Growth is an Iterative Process
Priyal Taneja | March Newsletter 🎉
I remember celebrating the New Year not too long ago, and I had a very clear vision of what I wanted 2023 to look like. And, now we’re ~25% into 2023, and it’s definitely not what I pictured.
But, that’s what I love about growth. You can be intentional about what you want to get out of situations, but you can’t fully predict every single thing that’ll happen in your life.
March has been a month full of spontaneous events of learnings, but the lessons I’ve learned are so valuable and will stick with me forever. Tune in below to read about my top 3 lessons, 2 content recommendations and 1 question for you to takeaway - to help accelerate your growth. Let’s grow together.
Welcome or welcome back to my monthly newsletter! I’m Priyal — a 17 year old quantum computing enthusiast who’s ambition revolves around working on solving complex problems to meaningfully contribute to the world.
ps. - currently open to work during the summer so if you know of any internships within the QC or innovation space, let’s chat :)
3 Lessons From This Month 💭
1) Cycles of Iterations Lead to Growth
Last month, I learned about the importance of compounding. I focused more on consistency and being intentional about not relying on my inner-motivation, but rather being consistent with the steps I was taking to maximize my growth. But, this month, as I continued to build on that value, I also understood that iteration is key to growth.
By this, I mean the recurring pattern of taking an action, assessing its outcomes, and then reiterating the task with the feedback or takeaways from the outcomes.
It’s the exact framework of how businesses evaluate their decisions, to see if they make sense and allow for growth. So, the same logic should apply to self-optimization & personal growth right?
“Growth is an endlessly iterative process.” — Mark Manson
Over the course of February & March, I’ve been building within the quantum computing space more and more everyday. I’ve been relatively consistent throughout this, but of course, roadblocks get the best of me. My most recently completed project implemented Quanvolutional Neural Networks (a fancy term for a quantum computer’s eyes) to improve the medical diagnosis process.
I wish I could say I built it within one try, but that was far from the case. I spent a solid 3 weeks creating and deleting all of my files, because of one bug within my code that I could not figure out for the life of me.
The first 2 weeks, I really just wasted my time by not opening my mind to new possibilities and kept trying the code I was familiar with, hoping that it would magically run. Obviously not the case. It wasn’t until I became intentional about each iteration of writing that I got closer to my final result. If a change didn’t work, I’d go down a rabbit hole of Quora (yes Quora) reads to identify why it didn’t work, and based on that I’d try again.
That temptation to give in and complete a simpler project was high throughout the entire process. But, I’m glad I didn’t. I learned how to be resilient towards problem-solving. Going through this ‘intentional & iterative cycle’ really helped with my problem-solving skills and making sure I knew how to find plus work up from the root of a problem.
The final pieces of my 3-part project on leveraging QNNs to improve late & misdiagnosis are here:
Overall, it’s important to learn from your experiences and make improvements over time. By continuously trying new things, reflecting on the outcomes, and making adjustments based on what you’ve learned, you can see yourself exponentially grow.
Definitely keeping this experience in mind as I start working on my next project where we can leverage quantum computers to predict early heart diseases - if you know of anyone who could help with building QSVMs, I’d love to hear more!
2) Screw Insecurities. Be Authentic.
I’ve always struggled with finding my voice, and figuring out what my own opinions are. After all, it’s so so easy to fall back and abide by society or the people around us.
Over the last month, I realized the root cause of a lack of authenticity are our insecurities.
I’ve always cared about what people thought about me… I don’t even know why. It’s led me to become more conscious of how people perceive me, and obviously that’s taken over all the actions I’ve taken.
From My October Newsletter: “As I mentioned, public speaking is a fear that I wish to overcome and I recognized the only way to do so is to take action.”
I very distinctly remember talking about this in October, as it was a huge ‘fear’ of mine to get up in front of people and present. Why? I just didn’t want to seem ‘dumb’ … I didn’t want anything to disrupt this image of being ‘smart’ … so obviously, so going back to that original concept of being concerned about how people perceive you.
Earlier this month, I was on a group-call with Navid Nathoo, and it was an extremely high-value conversation. But, the ultimate thing that stuck out to me and really changed my perception of insecurities was this idea of how humans are linked to insecurities.
On the call, we looked at a list of anonymous insecurities of everyone who was there. The one thing they had in common? They were controlled by people. And, that was the moment everything clicked in my head.
If I was the only person walking this Earth today, would I still be insecure or afraid of xyz?
From there, I realized that in order to maximize my growth, I need to be a part of a world that 0% of my love for myself is controlled by other people. And, my insecurities are my choice so I can’t just sit back and care about how the people around me perceive me.
They’re a huge roadblock too… essentially zero-multipliers. Because, this one insecurity of sounding dumb or stupid is what held me back from getting up & presenting, and inaction is the worst thing you can do for growth.
After that conversation, I knew that it was in my hands to make that change. I actually had the chance to speak at PuMP Toronto this previous weekend on my project of leveraging VQEs for an efficient drug discovery process. Going into it, I was scared. But, more than anything, I was excited to get a rep in and tackle that initial fear.
Do I think it was the best talk? Absolutely not. But, I would have rather failed than not done it at all, so I’m happy I committed to it. It’s allowed me to practice channeling my inner voice, and not being afraid to talk in front of people. And, I’m excited for all the future reps to come.
Here’s my talk if you’re interesting in watching… I’d love some feedback:
And, like I’ve learned this month, iterating on your intentions is important. So, I made sure to take everything I learnt from this experience into the next. After this presentation, I knew I could have improved on being more authentic within my discussion - showcasing my personality a little more.
Recently, I had a chance to hop on a mini-podcast with Young Philosophers Society to discuss my journey so far and key learnings I’ve had throughout my projects and personal growth journey. My intention going into it? Be authentic and add value… and not worrying about the opinion of other people helped once again.
As I’m writing this section of my newsletter, I hopped onto a spontaneous group-call with Aatik and Andres, two directors from TKS, where the topic of discussion was actually authenticity and being yourself. Perfect timing. One thing they mentioned that I really liked the sound of was acting around people like you’ve been friends with them for ages - because you wouldn’t overthink what you say around friends who don’t judge you, you would be yourself. Super cool, going to try to implement that within my life next month.
3) The Importance of Perspective
Over the last month, alongside a team of 4 others, I worked on a consulting project for Amazon Alexa. Yes, the Amazon Alexa.
It’s insane to think about I’ve gotten so used to yelling ‘Hey, Alexa’ across my house, and now I had the chance to submit a proposal to create the ‘next big thing’ for Gen Z in the Alexa product line.
After building out the recommendation for Walmart Blue Labs in November & December (read about that experience here), I was so ready to apply my learnings from there, onto the second consulting project I’d be working on.
Here’s the prompt we followed throughout our challenge:
“Alexa has a wide array of products but is looking to create the next big thing. What product would Gen Z use daily and how can Alexa be integral in the experience?”
- Sri Subramaniam, Director of Software Development at Amazon Alexa
The first couple of weeks were rough. Ideation usually takes a while, which we knew of from the last experience we had, but we were making minimal progress throughout that time period. We would come up with an idea, scrap it, and repeat.
At a certain point, we were able to come up with a few semi-good ideas. But, we knew they were far from a high standards idea to submit to the executives at Amazon Alexa.
The best way to refine your solution? Poke holes to identify gaps. And, the best way to do that? Considering all perspectives.
Throughout all of our innovating, we realized that the perspectives outside of our own mattered. We wanted to recommend a product that also aligned with the generation, so that meant hearing from them as well. So, as a part of our validation process, we extended beyond asking experts and got LOI signatures from consumers—so that we could see the impact and the interest our product has.
And, I keep saying the ‘product’ so let me tell you more about our final solution… the AlexaScribe.
By enhancing the hardware and software of the current Kindle Scribe, our team developed a product that integrates with Alexa and leverages Hugging Face to provide the ultimate study companion for Gen Z. It encompasses 8 unique features that follow the scientific studying process, to maximize the amount of content you consume in a personalized manner.
To read more about our product ideation in-depth, check out our final recommendation deck!
Shoutout to my team for another round of memories we made throughout the all-nighters we pulled! :)
2 New Content Recommendations 📖
1) Intentionality: A Two-Part Reflection
Biased opinion, but you should definitely check out my two-part reflection on intentionality. I’ve grown so so much from adapting this mindset in my life and I really wanted to translate my thoughts into words so that I could add value to anyone reading… if you do give it a read, let me know your thoughts -I would love to discuss. :)
2) TLDR Newsletter
I’m a huge tech nerd. I think that’s pretty obvious at this point, but as much as I love building, I also love hearing about the current state of the industry. The innovations in tech have always had me super intrigued, and the TLDR newsletter as been the best source to quickly get a rundown of what’s happening — because something new happens everyday. The 7am notifications start the day off right, and I would definitely recommend signing up to stay up-to-date on everything tech.
1 Question for You 🙋🏻♀️
2023 is ~25% over.
What aspect of your life are you going to be intentional about for the next quarter of this year for self-optimization? And, how can you be consistent with iterations to ensure you’re compounding your growth?
Feel free to think about this, or even respond! I’d love to hear about it. :)
And, before I leave, here’s a collection of photos that sum up the beautiful month I’ve had. Eternally grateful for it all. 💌
Thank you so much for reading my newsletter. I’m so thankful for each and every single one of you who keeps up with my progress and the supportive community I have around me.
As always, any feedback you have for me is greatly appreciated! See you next month. 🫂
- Priyal