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just set sail

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Just Set Sail - my first blog post was just these two concepts tied together with a single sentence to make a raft on which to begin my vogage. This was also my first experiment in tying together atomic notes to form larger articles

On Starting - Start small

Fears on starting

You're 'x' years old. You should have started years ago. It's too late now.

We all aspire to create something significant. To start at the end and make waves sailing majestically. The paradox is that the idea of greatness can prevent setting sail at all.

The paralysing rationalisation to wait for 'inspiration' or to have something 'worthy' before posting a blog or starting any endeavour. The desire to have something 'good' before launching can lead to never leaving port at all.

So start with something small and unintimidating, actually ship it and then building towards something greater is far better than grand designs which never see the light of day.

A ship in port is safe, but that is not what ships are built for. Sail out to see and do new things. — Grace Hopper quotes

It's the same in startups where entrepreneurs would rather perfect their product before putting it out there with imperfections to see what the world thinks of it.Get out of the building

Before exposing ideas, products and art to the cold seas of the market, customer feedback

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

XKCD heeded the call and started his voyage in a barrel. And look how far he has gone.

quantity over quality

In a craft. Whether pottery, software or writing focus on generating more rather than perfect. This will paradoxically improve your qualityIn a craft. Whether pottery, software or writing focus on generating more rather than perfect. This will paradoxically improve your quality__ over time.

Book: Art & Fear: Observations On the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking quantity over quality

The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality. His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work of the "quantity" group: fifty pound of pots rated an "A", forty pounds a "B", and so on. Those being graded on "quality", however, needed to produce only one pot - albeit a perfect one - to get an "A".

Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the "quantity" group was busily churning out piles of work - and learning from their mistakes - the "quality" group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.

This applies across domains from art to programming to writing. Mastering a skill requires a focus on repeated practice. Not perfection. Principles which apply across domains and provide a

Getting started builds momentum. And so with these two paradoxical principles strapped together the thoughthsip sets sail!

Referenced in

encapsulation

just set sail - a blog post which is two nodes joined together.

combine atomic notes to form larger pieces

just set sail was my first experiment with combining nodes into a blog post