Today I was musing over the question of "Why am I bad at math?" because I believe that if I had been a strong student in mathematics, then maybe I would have landed a programming job many eons ago. Then of course in order to find an answer to my existential question, I Googled my question and found this very well-written and insightful article "The Myth of 'I'm Bad at Math".

The basic argument of the article signifies how there are often two sides of an individual's views on intelligence, that is Incremental versus Entity. The first concept, incremental, believes that intelligence is malleable, so with a little hard work it is possible to understand a subject like math very well. Whereas, entity is basically the opposite, which is the belief that your intelligence is fixed.

Now how does this relate to the theme of my site? Well, firstly when we consider how often those of us (like myself) had come to believe that we're just not cut out for a certain field because we didn't score so well on math tests, but what we forget is that hard work and effort can definitely take us far. I began my academic career with communication and an education degree, but was always hesitant to do anything beyond this field because I believed I wasn't cut out for the hard sciences. Now, I'm doing programming, and this field didn't just come easily or fall into my lap like a feather. Instead I had to have discipline and take time and energy to really study the material. I got down and dirty and coded as much as I could, and now I can fairly say after nearly a year of effort, I am by far better than I was a year ago. I'm even diving into intermediate to advance programming topics, which would have floored me before, but I changed because I put my mind into it.

You may think that of course, hard work and repetition will get you somewhere, but that doesn't change the part about your abilities in areas like math. Well, the thing is that those takes time. And like the article says, it really is about your training. Of course those who had a well-organized and parentally-supported education would fair probably far better than us that had to learn it through trial and error, still does not excuse us from pursing our passion. Many great inventors or even great influencers did so with persistence and passion. They never gave up, and kept on hacking away.

For me I know that 1 year, 4 year, even 10 years from now I'll be definitely a different person, with a different world view. In the past I didn't put as much effort into my studies, fitness or even mental state, but now I'm studying at least 30 minutes a day on programming, going to a personal fitness trainer, and even doing yoga to focus my mind. After adopting a minimalist lifestyle I've also begun to focus on those things that are most important to me, and in turn they are things that many people forget about due to stress and materialism. I think that if everyone begins to re-evaluate their view of themselves and their environment, it will definitely change, and with every ounce of effort the outcome will be much better than if we decided to not try.

hard work + dedication + consistency = success

I wanted to write a post about something that I thought was simply too complicated, but was pretty straight forward. Documentation here. If you wanted to git push a commit to your repo, and you're using SSH. This is typically something like

git@github.com:USERNAME/FILENAME.git

But while trying to push you get something like:

Permission denied (publickey).fatal: Could not read from remote repository.
Please make sure you have the correct access rights 

So what you need to do to fix this.

1. Create your own SSH public key. You will do this in your own computer using the command line. Please read the directions here: https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Git-on-the-Server-Generating-Your-SSH-Public-Key
2. Add your SSH public key to github. Log into your github profile, and under your profile go to settings. Select SSH and GPG keys, and from there click on New SSH Key. 
3. Git working! Now you can git commit or git push no problem.

Add SSH public key to github

In the past months I have been fighting a battle with plastic. There just seems to be a ton of it everywhere I go, especially when shopping for groceries or buying a shirt, there is some piece of plastic that will inevitably come along with my purchase. A recent trip to Costco had proven that plastic was everywhere, and it was becoming overwhelming trying to eliminate it from my life.

So, my question is Can we eliminate plastic? Is it possible?

You may have heard the saying "first world problems" and associated it with wealthy developed countries, but here this youtube video by The School of Life talks about this concept, but points to a greater issue. The issue that we as a society is no longer valuing the non-material things, such as kindness and wisdom.

The narrator also points out that often in schools we are not educated on how to "live and die well," which in essence is a major part of living. If we mainly focus on the accumulation of wealth, then we will develop far greater problems than when we focus on simply living as good and kind individuals, focused on experiences rather than accumulation of things.


Not surprisingly this goes hand-in-hand with the idea of minimalism. Although it may seem that we are not going to change as a society, but continue to buy more and focus more on building wealth, an article from becomingminimalist.com called "Why Millennials are trending Towards Minimalism?" clarifies how the future generation is not necessarily getting worst, but rather there is a growing awareness due to the advance in technology that material wealth is not as superior as a healthier and cleaner environment. What distinguishes this generation from the previous generations is the fact that technology, mobility and sharing culture has developed due to the widespread use of the internet and mobile phones.

Not only has our economy disappointed us, but it has also led us to re-evaluate our expectations. After all happiness is basically expectations divided by reality. The least we expect, such as wanting less, the more happier we become. How ironic that simplification of life emerged from the development of complex technologies like the computer and cell phones! But of course it is in how we use these tools that will benefit our move towards a more minimal waste lifestyle.

Making the planet and each other healthier as the purpose of our lives is much more fulfilling than focusing on material goods, which will only leave us empty or wanting more. For me and my husband, we try to encourage this concept of minimalism in everything we do. Not only do we try to find efficiency in our everyday living behaviors, but also in our work.

What are the ways we can learn to do something better, and more effectively? This is a question that drives me when I study programming and or improving my lifestyle. After all, everything is a set of habits built through many little steps. In order to do better and not fall into unhealthy behaviors, we should work on change everything one piece at a time, which will eventually have a far greater impact than doing absolutely nothing.

success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out robert collier

A photo posted by Dana Ng (@riceball1) on Aug 7, 2016 at 12:20pm PDT

In this chaotic modern world, we often forget to stop and take a break to appreciate the simple pleasures of the everyday. One of my biggest turn to efficiency these days has been to start preparing my own food, and especially making my husband's favorite breakfast bread - simit - a sesame bagel. When we began moving towards a minimal waste kitchen, we also found ways to improve the quality of what we ate too.

Since I've begun to focus on breakfast, it has helped to make me more aware of time and what I do with my time. Before it was difficult for me to even wake up at 8am, but now I'm starting to wake up even earlier like 6 or 7am. If we're lucky we will get some miles of walking in before even sitting down for breakfast. I noticed that making sure we have a proper morning routine really does change the outcome for the day. My belief is that getting things done in the morning improves the amount achieved throughout the day.

If you've followed many minimalist blogs and tips from successful professionals, one of their major routines is to not overwhelmed their day with a busy schedule, but by being organized and deliberate about what they do. Simplify your day. For me my days are fairly simple: exercise, cook, study programming and family time. It is always important to focus on things that matter rather than wasting time on things that don't.

For those working on a minimal waste lifestyle, perhaps start by simplifying the start of your day, and make it something to look forward to. For the recipe above, one of my all time favorite recipe, comes from Delicious Istanbul by Olga Trez. I've tried making it overnight and in 3 hours, both turned out great. You can also cut the oven temp down to 425 degrees and keep the water tray inside the entire 20-25 minutes.

Remember, just like studying a new skill and getting fit, it requires consistency and deliberate practice in order to get somewhere. 

What is a minimal waste lifestyle? Why not a zero waste lifestyle? If you haven't heard about the famous term 'zero waste lifestyle' then you should look into some popular online figures like Bea Johson's Zero Waste Home and Laura Singer's Trash is for Tossers. There are of course critics about how can anyone possibly reduce their trash to fit into a small mason jar? Although zero waste is an awesome idea,  it is a difficult one to accomplish without making a lot of changes from food to shopping to the way you clean. Therefore, I am an advocate of a minimal waste lifestyle, which is one step removed from being zero waste and to be honest a more realistic reality because there will always be some type of trash produced if we plan to remain living in a modern society.

So, minimal waste is about not necessarily giving up on shopping or having to make every thing from toothpaste to ketchup yourself, but by encouraging alternatives and better decision making. We can talk about every aspect of how we can make better decisions in our life to reduce waste, but that would take a long time. So I propose a simple question that can get you started: "What is the impact?"

When we question our actions, and think mindfully about what we are doing then we can begin to start making better decisions to help reduce the waste in our lives. Food waste is one of my biggest pet peeves, and one that I'm struggling to improve. For me, whenever I purchase food I ask myself "Can I avoid creating waste from this purchase?" So it has led me to avoid buying items wrapped in plastic. Instead of buying meat sitting in plastic and styrofoam containers, we now go to the butcher and get a few pieces wrapped in butcher paper. Instead of eating so much meat, we buy loose vegetables or vegetables with recyclable containers. And instead of buying so much food that they spoil in the fridge we make sure to buy only enough for the week. Anything left over or scraps are tossed into the compost bin.

Intentionally living and not just carelessly consuming is definitely the step towards minimally waste living. Sometimes it requires sacrifices, but you may notice that over time these small changes will have a much bigger impact. Not only by improving your own carbon footprint and reducing climate change, but also by challenging society's belief that material goods and accumulation of wealth is what will make you happy. Because in the end all these material possessions will not bring you happiness, but weigh you down. Like the saying goes by Coco Chanel:

#minttea #studytime another day studying programming and drinking mint tea, listening to Note to Self on how working moms can also become great in their careers. More power to women 💪 👩👪

A photo posted by Dana Ng (@riceball1) on Aug 1, 2016 at 2:25pm PDT