Staying Hungry, Staying Foolish

If in fact true, we might want to bring it to the attention of the OP.

OP here... I should say that I wrote this post rather late with a glass of wine in my hand and perhaps didn't use all the exact words to convey my point clearly. But let me address your points.

"Thinking too much" seems to have hit a button for you; sorry about that. I do think this is a pretty common thing: The Paradox of Choice. That's sort of what I am feeling as I know quite a few languages and frameworks, and it's difficult for me to stop diddling over "what should I use" and just write it.

I've spent my career creating things - I haven't created a language yet and to be honest I don't think I have the ability to do so. Not sure what that has to do with my point, but OK.

The feedburner feed was spelled wrong (fedburner)... that was sorta dumb of me, sorry!

Thinking you know too much is the correct expression. There is this story about a student who solved a previously unsolvable math problem because he didn't know it was unsolvable (http://www.snopes.com/college/homework/unsolvable.asp). If you believe to know the limits of what is possible, you will hold yourself back. For the beginner, everything is possible. I think that's a wonderful message.

You're new to writing software? Because after 20+ years in the trenches, it can become second nature to you. The thing is: to get from A to B is a journey you can perform in a million different ways. When you're new, and young, such a journey is an adventure: what shall we meet along the way? Who knows! Let's find out! The more experienced you get, the more you know which things to avoid, what to do to get certain things done and how to make things easier for yourself and others. That also means that a journey from A to B isn't an adventure anymore, it's a carefully planned expedition, because you _know_ that by not carefully planning it, you'll hurt yourself and perhaps won't make it to B.

This means that all the fun of exploring and adventuring to get from A to B is more or less gone, as you already know what lies ahead and how to avoid it. You _know_ what's coming and thus how to deal with it. You also _know_ which parts are a chore and can suck the energy right out of you. This alone can make a journey that would otherwise be fun, a problematic undertaking we probably would like to avoid if we had the chance.

The post absolutely doesn't state you should avoid crap, it also doesn't state one can achieve greatness without avoiding mess and misery. It just writes about by learning a lot over the years the adventure of a journey from A to B is fading away and with it, the fun and excitement.

The post hit home with me a great deal as it perfectly answered why I didn't code on a Saturday anymore (e.g. silly stuff like a small game or tiny tools), but only program software during work days and only for work: it wasn't a problem to find ideas to write a silly program for, it was the baggage that came with it as I already knew I had to do X and Y to get started properly, Z to get something on the screen, get a lib for E and F and as I knew that would likely be a chore I wouldn't even start, as: why bother with chores on a free Saturday if you can have some fun?

It's still possible though, don't think it's all grim and gloomy and dark, you just have to put what you _think_ up front what could happen aside and still do it. You'll learn it isn't so bad, but sadly the fun of adventuring and exploring into new territory is often not there anymore, simply because it's familiar territory. That's often a good thing in life, but if it's adventure and excitement filled exploration is what you're after like all those years ago, you're not going to find it (easily).

Cheers :)