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A note to myself

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A note to myself

#1

Post by clubhi »

I wrote this a few weeks ago and I keep it open on my desktop at all times.

---

That would be cool. But you know what else would be cool? Actually finishing an idea that you started. How many times do you start to work on something and never finish it? EVERY time. You've been doing this your whole life. Somehow along the way you have learned many things and even became a master in a few different areas. But that is not what you want. You want to create. It's not really creating when you never finish.

Re: A note to myself

#2

Post by terrykohla »

That's what discipline is all about. Creating a plan, having goals with milestones, checklists, schedule, etc. It's hard work and sometimes tedious, but mostly rewarding, leaving you with a sense of accomplishment and pride. It increases your level of confidence in what you can accomplish, it makes you better at overcoming problems.

Having ideas is a natural impulse, following through requires discipline and hard work.

Someone said "genius is as common as dust".

Nassim Taleb said something like "it's not about having ideas, it's about learning how to manage your ideas". I might be slightly off.

Anyhow, good initiative.

Re: A note to myself

#3

Post by tarr11 »

You might be too hard on yourself.

It is ok to start many things. Do not think you have to finish something just because you started it. That is a very heavy burden and will discourage you from starting new things.

Sometimes, it is valuable to reflect on things you have accomplished, and avoid judging yourself when things don't work out as planned.

Re: A note to myself

#4

Post by moxie »

I like that this note about discipline has itself become a distraction. To be true to the note would have meant finishing an idea in progress, rather than browsing to HN and posting.

Re: A note to myself

#6

Post by shurane »

tarr11 wrote: post #3

You might be too hard on yourself. It is ok to start many things. Do not think you have to finish something just because you started it. That is a very heavy burden and will discourage you from starting new things. Sometimes, it is valuable to reflect on things you have accomplished, and avoid judging yourself when things don't work out as planned.

It still helps to get into the mindset of starting and finishing. Some things are meant to be weekend projects that are abandoned shortly after. Other things are meant to be products, with a few dollops of polish.

Re: A note to myself

#8

Post by anoncow »

Always wanted to build something. Tried my hand at a few projects. Worked at it for 3 years, odd jobs kept the money flowing. Recently took up a corporate job. Signed the company contract which takes away my right to work on anything else(profitable or non profitable).

Still want to build. Bidding my time.

Re: A note to myself

#9

Post by adrianhoward »

The single biggest mental hack I have for getting around this is this.

Just write it down.

As soon as I write it down and stick it on a list of product ideas it's out of my head and I can focus again. As a bonus you've got a nice list 'o' stuff that you can go poke through whenever you get some spare tuits.

At the moment I have (pause to look at trello) 57 items on the company "Product Ideas" backlog. Two have come off and are being actively developed. The rest - I rarely think about.

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