just start, but have a goal

April 28, 2009 | Category: personal development |

I had a bad summer once, back when i was a teenager. Couldn’t get interested in anything. Bored of procrastinating like hell. You can imagine my dad was getting pretty annoyed with my self pity and the behavioral consequences. He said, “Quit your whining and make yourself useful. Go nail some boards to cover that hole in the shed.”
The shed in better times
It used to be a barbecue hangout, but it promised to be more useful in the form of a garage, carhole if you will. Nothing fancy, just a wooden shed with corrugated plastic roofing. One side was left open, but the new destiny of the structure needed the entrance to be on the other side, which meant the former had to be closed up.

Okay, that was my “project” for the day. Whooptydoo. Ah heck, it was easy and it would shut the old man up… Not like i had big plans or anything…

Funny thing was, this stupid chore meant a turning point that summer. When i was done and took a few steps back, i was surprised to sense a feeling of content. Hey, i dare say some pride was involved. It was an eye-opener and the remaining weeks of the holiday i was looking for stuff to fix and to do, just to get that feeling again. And it happened a lot. It’s what keeps me going still. I start stuff out of anticipation and belief it will be gratifying and rewarding.

It doesn’t even have to result in the thing you set out to do. For example: it’s okay to learn controversial stuff a certain way, possibly the wrong way. In the vain of “make one to throw away”, failure is an option. And this doesn’t have to mean that you should throw it away entirely. Code reuse for example can come in small packages, even reusing some basic structures or idea in another project.

As long as you remember that what you are learning might be wrong in the future - i.e. when you gather more knowledge on the topic - it’s okay. If you know the wrong way, you will grok the right way better. Often you’ll see why best practices are just that, by going through the process of bumping into walls yourself.

My main mantra since Project Nail-the-Shed has always been “you gotta do stuff, just start”. It doesn’t really matter what others say, or whether you think you’re on the wrong track. Perfectionists probably know what i mean here; it’s not easy to let go, but sometimes letting go and letting yourself be lead by the process is more rewarding than dotting all the i’s.

But even if you don’t quite get there, it’s important to have a goal in the back of your noggin though. Preferably a high level one, that keeps you on track. It’s easy to lose yourself in either experimentation or details. Those are traps of not getting things done at all.

I know these thoughts will not resonate with everyone; i found that some people can plot out entire processes in their minds before trying anything out. Unfortunately, i am not one of those people, and i suspect most of us aren’t. So i need to try things out. If i don’t, there is no progression at all.

My father - as you already know, a wise man - had an interesting view on the saying “ignorance is bliss”; people who don’t see possible benefits or  problems just go for it, just for the sake of doing stuff. They are more likely to strike gold, because they are not hindered by contemplation. So don’t fret too much on the details.

And the shed? Well, it got burnt to the ground by our neighbour. He thought scorching a piece of garden to clean it up was a good idea.

The Mother of All Games

Ah well, it was full of useless car parts anyway. And the insurance inspectors weren’t what you call gear heads… Even when it doesn’t work out, there’s always something to gain. *wink* … I didn’t mind really, failure was an option, even for the shed.

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