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Ask HN: How can I quit talking myself out of my own ideas?

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Re: Ask HN: How can I quit talking myself out of my own ideas?

#11

Post by ecaroth »

My process is probably a little different than most, but the first thing I do when I have an idea is jump into photoshop and make a logo. Doesn't matter if it sucks, if I plan on changing it 500 times, if the product name will change, whatever. Then I have something solid I can look at that defines that idea.

Next step is I start making mockups. Lots of em. I don't write one line of code until I have a mockup that I am excited about. Many times I have started mocking up an idea only to determine during the mockup process that it would be a BITCH to code, or the idea won't execute like I thought, etc..

Re: Ask HN: How can I quit talking myself out of my own ideas?

#13

Post by d3x »

Revenue. Once someone pays for something it becomes real IMO. I run digest.io and it was always a side thing until people stared paying and I had to deal w/ customer support and stuff like that. Do whatever you can to just get one paying customer and then whatever you have to do to get your next and your next etc...

Re: Ask HN: How can I quit talking myself out of my own ideas?

#14

Post by DanielBMarkham »

So you would like us to talk you out of -- talking yourself out of ideas?

I found with myself that I can over-think things. Remember that action comes first, motivation second.

Instead of all this imagining of how users might show up and how they might use your app, and how you might be able to scale or grow -- stop doing all that.

Think less. Do more.

It's better to do one thing that's completely wrong -- and finish it -- than it is to have a hundred great ideas that never go anywhere. Don't be a spectator in your own life. (Which reminds me I need to get back to work!)

Re: Ask HN: How can I quit talking myself out of my own ideas?

#16

Post by colinsidoti »

I've discovered that most of my ideas are usually missing one thing. I have a group of friends that also have a ton of ideas, and I bounce all of my ideas off of them. Most of the time we agree that something is simply missing, and we can't figure it out. Sometimes though, someone will say something that makes the project an obvious green light, and that's when I go for it.

For me, this final idea is usually the difference between "this project is going to be awesome" and "this project is going to be awesome and I know exactly how I'm going to get people to use it."

Re: Ask HN: How can I quit talking myself out of my own ideas?

#17

Post by jsmcgd »

Don't worry about it. I've been through this countless times as I'm sure all creative people have. It's depressing, but the other side of the coin is that this is the thing that gives you confidence in the right ideas. The trick is to keep doing what you're doing and wait for the time when an idea comes along in which you can't identify any fatal flaws and that you don't seem to be able to stop thinking about. Don't bank on having a perfect idea, all will require adjusting and lots of persistence to implement. Just like natural selection the good ones will hang around. Have patience, wait for these ones. If they have been destroyed by weeks, months or even years of critical thinking then they're the ones to lean towards.

Re: Ask HN: How can I quit talking myself out of my own ideas?

#18

Post by bdclimber14 »

Instead of letting you talk yourself out of ideas, let others talk you out of the ideas. Thrash anything you come up with. Ask other potential users if they would use it. Ask if they would pay for it. I think you're probably wasting a lot of time jumping into the code without talking to others. Before you know it, you'll hear "You know, that's a really good idea..." You'd actually be surprised how honest friends can be; or maybe my ideas are just that bad...

Re: Ask HN: How can I quit talking myself out of my own ideas?

#19

Post by colinsidoti »

pierrefar wrote: post #3

Two checkpoints I've used in the past: 1. If an idea sounds promising, I try to forget about it for a while (say a month) and if it's still a good idea after the wait, then I go for it. Usually this means that I really have that problem and it needs fixing. So I build it. If not, I've only lost a few brain cells. No harm done. 2. I launch, and if it works and gets people excited, then I'm really onto something. If no…

Pro-tip I learned from Peter Thiel's 20 under 20 application:

To avoid the wait, try and answer the question "How are you going to change the world" on paper. Try and make it at least a page. If everything you come up with sounds like a sham, it's probably not that good of an idea.

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