Lessons Learned — Daily Reflections from a Summer Internship

I’m not sure how much I need to preface this with, but I know that that is okay. I’d rather just include the list and only the list, but I understand context might be helpful if someone happens upon this.

This past summer, I worked at a growing startup called Zipline, a health care logistics company that utilizes autonomous drones to deliver vital (and frequently life saving) health care supplies like blood, vaccines, and anti-venom. As an intern, you might expect the biggest lessons from my time there to be technical in nature…

My experience was quite the opposite. While I grew as an engineer and secured new technical skills in spades, I quickly felt the need to jot down the bigger, more general life and career lessons I was picking up from my coworkers and mentors. I decided to dedicate a moment each evening to write down at least one thing I learned that day. Sometimes they were personal, sometimes not. Sometimes company specific, sometimes not. Some lessons pop up multiple times, as I had to learn and relearn them multiple weeks in a row. I will write them here as they appear in the pocket sized composition notebook I carried from desk to meeting room, prototyping room to picnic table, leadership panel to bedside table. A friend told me I should publish it and I guess this is my first step. Ideally, it would take the form of a small, softcover booklet with one lesson on each page, so I can force my reader to digest each before moving on to the next. Since a webpage doesn’t quite cut it: I charge you to pause between each, letting it sit with you like some really great dark chocolate pulled from the freezer — let it defrost, then let it melt and coat your tongue, until finally you are ready to absorb the next.

Things in italics are unfortunately necessary annotations to add clarity (:

1. Just because something has been defined as helpful/productive does not mean it will be that way naturally. MEETINGS/ROADMAPS/PRESENTATIONS SHOULD ALWAYS BE PURPOSEFUL AND DEFENDABLE.
2. Write down questions you have as you go about your day — otherwise you will forget them or wave them away as unimportant.
3. Ask EARLY. Ask OFTEN. Ask OPENLY.
4. INTRODUCE YOURSELF. Absolutely no downside to this.
5. Do not be afraid to fail or be wrong. ASSUMED UNDERSTANDING is far MORE DANGEROUS THAN EXPRESSED CONFUSION.
6. Not every conversation will have perfect flow — that’s okay.
7. Preparation and conscious reflection show.
8. “Ask really good questions, and a lot of them, and don’t feel bad about asking more. And the way you do that is MAKE SURE YOU ONLY HAVE TO ASK IT ONCE.” — Jo M. (referring to Jo Mardall)
9. “At some point, you have to just DO THE THING YOU WANT TO DO.” -Jo
10. “Look for places that don’t have a plan B” — Jo (i.e data to sell, )
11. “A great leader always ENABLE PEOPLE TO BE THEIR BEST SELVES.” — Jo
12. Our head engineer (Jo) was rejected from his university and many jobs, got them after taking time to improve and try again. DON’T GIVE UP ON WHAT YOU WANT.
13. “Working to exhaustion does not mean you are working the best you can” — Jo
14. Helpful to quantify things to make a decision (:
15. Value your own perspective.
16. FAIL FAST — Keenan (referring to Keenan Wyrobek)
17. It is okay to leave work at work.
18. Do not wait for people to tell you what to do. Start something or ask.
19. Just because you can measure/test something, does not mean you should. Think critically, always.
20. Demystifying unknowns to develop a WHOLISTIC UNDERSTANDING. This FACILITATES FEARLESSNESS. — Liam O’Connor (This is referring to actively seeking to learn about other departments, teams, and people within the company, as well as fully understanding complicated situations to gain leverage in decision making.)
21. “SOLUTION-ORIENTED, but PROBLEM-DRIVEN” — Liam
22. Be purposeful about extracting LESSONS from your EXPERIENCES
23. “Do not forget about your LIFE OUTSIDE OF YOUR WORK “— Liam
24. DISCOMFORT BREEDS GROWTH
25. Being present takes practice, effort, and intentional energy. It is hard, but it is valuable and rare.
26. Not every day is going to feel great. You will have long days. You will have slow days. That is okay. KEEP GROWING.
27. Data visualization should never be just an after-thought.
28. ACTIVELY SEEK FEEDBACK.
29. PRIDE HAS NO PLACE WHERE YOU WANT TO LEARN.
30. If you sit down and decide to do something, you can do anything.
31. If you feel incompetent, remember you are ALWAYS CAPABLE OF LEARNING AND LOVING.
32. Leaving work at work does not mean you are less dedicated to your work.
33. People really appreciate walk-by check in’s
34. Pay attention to every day or they will blend into weeks into months.
35. Learn to say no.
36. The most successful people here have the highest humility.
37. Do not sacrifice the timeline you “need” in the name of efficiency. (In response to slowing progress in an effort to combine projects and do everything “in one go”)
38. Being a leader does not mean doing other people’s job for them.
39. BE FEARLESS.
40. LEARN fast.
41. RECOVER fast.
42. “Make the effort to understand the wholistic tapestry of the enterprise.” — Liam
43. Have lunch with new people.
44. It’s literally never about you.
45. Ask for help -> If it wasn’t helpful, ask someone else.
46. If you have the capacity to do more, tell your lead and take on more.
47. You should never be able to look around yourself and think “Everyone is working harder than me.”
48. It is best to care a lot and give honest feedback. But make frank feedback your priority — you can’t be everyone’s best friend. Most people would rather receive honest criticism than empty compliments.
49. “Live sparingly so that way your company does not have unhealthy power over you. All they can do is fire you.” — Liam
50. “Never fire someone you don’t think should be fired.” — Liam
51. Check to see if the equipment is actually operational before you spend lots of time/money making it specialized.
52. Smile on your face, heart on your sleeve.
53. People appreciate genuine interactions. They are rarer than you think. (I actually wrote this as a second #52, but I’ll take the liberty of fixing that here.)
54. Say yes. Don’t limit your experience.
55. Say no. It’s okay, too.
56. Search out new experiences.
57. Take care of your body. You need it to be okay to have an effective brain.
58. Standing desks are NOT overrated.
59. Figure out what is actually needed/wanted before diving into the work.
60. Romanticize your life, goddamn it.
61. It’s the little things.
62. Recover. Burning out will inhibit your progress more than taking time off/to slow down.
63. Strive for RELENTLESS ADAPTABILITY.
64. Drink more water. You are probably dehydrated right now
65. Prioritize sleep.
66. Center yourself around your breathing at least once a day.
67. Never forget how blessed you are. You have found incredible people through a lot of hard work and luck.
68. You are never alone.
69. Ask if someone is looking for a listener, sounding board, or advice first. It can be frustrating if you provide one when they want another.
70. Encourage people to say what they mean.

I hope you learned something from all this. If you take away one it probably shouldn’t be any one specific number, but the process itself. Writing the biggest lessons from each day encouraged a thoughtful and reflective mindset that became not just a habit, but a continuous mindset. Looking back through this book, I am reminded of the people and experiences behind each number on the list, and can tangibly see the growth born from each in who I am today.