1. ENRIQUE ALLEN
Last updated 6/12/09
Academic Failures
Not doing the basics: From arriving to class on time to finishing my homework
before deadlines, I didnʼt commit to doing my best in all of my classes. Too often I
made the excuse that, “I just didnʼt try hard enough.” Advice from one of my
mentors still rings true, “East Palo Alto will still be there for you to change but
your transcript is history once youʼre done with school.”
Finding mentors: For my first two years I rarely talked to any professors
because I didnʼt want to be a “brown-noser.” Although I needed time to learn
what I was passionate about, professors and upper classmen are a tremendous
resource beyond my wildest dreams.
Working in groups: I pride myself on being an awesome team player thatʼs
motivated by people rather than grades. However, for classes without group
projects I usually worked alone because I failed to reach out to a stranger.
Looking back, the best outcomes often resulted from some form of group
innovation.
The myth of multitasking: Constant switching costs are potentially unhealthy
particularly in the pre frontal cortex.1 Setting large blocks of time without
distraction is difficult but a necessary discipline for quality learning. My day was
broken into many pieces that did not facilitate consistent study. I need to utilize
the rule of three and actually finish my plate before signing up for new things.
Getting my hands dirty early: Whether it's learning more technical skills in
statistics or literally getting my hands dirty, I didnʼt have enough academic bias
toward action early in my Stanford years. I would avoid taking action only for it to
pile up and come back to haunt me. Itʼs better to fail early on the hardest
problems rather than waiting to act at the last minute or not doing them at all.
Personal Failures
The courage to move on: I value loyalty and sometimes fooled myself into
thinking it was love. When my relationships with girl friends turned south, I
always dropped everything to “make up” without really saying how I truly felt
because of fear. Having the courage to move on rather than waiting for the
opportune moment or excuse would have saved a lot of grief.
1 http://www.apa.org/releases/multitasking.html

2. Taking my family for granted: I always talk about how important my family is
but in reality they have been a small percentage of my attention while at
Stanford. I thought that going home would take too much time but turns out I
spent more energy on less important things. There is no excuse for not simply
calling or even texting my family.
Honoring my culture: From attending ceremonies to surfacing relevant media, I
have failed to cultivate modern Native American culture by continuously revisiting
my roots. Talking to more elders and proactively seeking insight should have
been more of a priority in college.
Setting aside quality time with loved ones: Instead of having a deep and
intimate experience with my girl friend or friends, I often tried to cram many things
together to “knock-out two birds with one stone.” While this strategy is not bad for
some situations, it really detracts from the valuable attention my loved ones
deserve.
Listening to the voice inside: You can feel when youʼre inner voice is talking.
Itʼs almost like itʼs echoing from a far off cave. Even though Iʼve taken decision
analysis and know that our intuition often leads to bad decisions, my inner voice
seems to have a strong track record. I think the trick is to document when it starts
talking and check it against other assumptions.
Professional Failures
Being the best in the world at one thing first: Rather than the rule of 10,000
hours to become successful, I failed to carve out a small niche e.g. 50-80 hours
that Iʼm distinctly the best in. Once establishing credibility in one point, I now
realize that I can easily expand to other sectors.
Not going to the MLS: I took a backseat my sophomore and junior year by
losing hope in my ability to go pro. I didnʼt make a commitment to take it to the
next level and I will never know if I could of made it.
Short-term and long-term planning: Balancing and executing priorities in a
discipline manner eluded me because I failed to distinguish between urgent/non-
urgent and important/non-important tasks. Too often I spent time executing the
wrong tasks even when I knew I was making a bad decision at that moment.
Setting expectations and over delivering: After failing to go to events or fulfill
previous commitments, I understand the importance of setting clear expectations
that Iʼm confident I can over deliver on. A simple heuristic would be taking what I
think I can do and dividing that by 2. My lack of clear communication of

3. expectations has lead to both professional and personal issues in terms of
planning, execution, and performance.
Email is not work: Because I like people, I confuse email with actual work.
Usually there are multiple steps before and after communicating with someone
that I fail to complete properly because Iʼm caught up in email that drains my
energy.