Learn how to do the small things well.

My father grew up in communist china during the cultural revolution, and he made it to America after working in being forced to work in a factory till he was 25. He came to the U.S. with literally 50 bucks in his back pocket, didn't know a single bit of English, and with his sister, worked full time jobs waiting and doing odd jobs like painting houses, fixing things, while pursuing an electrical engineering degree. He graduated with a masters and a double major in applied mathematics and EE. He then got recruited by a silicon valley tech company, moved to the bay, bought a nice house, raised me, and is living his life in splendor after growing up in absolute poverty. He's published multiple patents, received awards from IEEE, is extremely frugal (brags about how few socks he owns, driven toyota camrys for his entire life), saved up money his whole life so that I could go to college without ever taking a loan, was at every single sport event I ever did (he flew with me across the country for events, coached and pushed me while I trained at home), and is the best father I could have ever asked for. To this day, he still nags me on doing the small things well. He tells me to put my ego down, and learn how to write the letters before trying to read, he forced me to do the simple things well before going any further. I believe it was this mentality that brought him to where he is today, and it is a lesson I will carry with me with the rest of my life to hopefully succeed like him one day.