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Ship product. Ship as much as you can as often as you can. Finish a project by yourself, finish one with a team. And then do another. Any feeling of inadequa

Ship product. Ship as much as you can as often as you can. Finish a project by yourself, finish one with a team. And then do another. Any feeling of inadequacy can disappear if you sit back and think about stuff you've finished. Because it's finished. All the HN comments and soap boxing in the world can't match a finished work.

gregpilling 9y ago
This is a great answer. I still think I am clueless, but if I look back at the list of things I have done I am happy enough with myself. I may be clueless, but at least I have tried many things. Some even worked!
- pcmaffey 9y ago
  > if I look back at the list of things I have done I am happy enough with myself. This is so true, and can be extrapolated on a micro-level, by tracking what you learn and accomplish on a daily (or whatever) basis. I've found training your attention this way a great hack for building confidence and momentum. It's kind of like watching a plant grow. You normally don't notice all the little things, until it adds up to magic. Shameless plug, but one thing I'm proud of building was a micro-notes app for tracking these micro-accomplishments. https://www.bicycl.com https://www.bicycl.com
vitus 9y ago
To add onto this: narrow scope if you're still struggling to ship product. I know I've been guilty of biting off more than I can chew, then feeling inadequate when I fail to deliver (or deliver much less than hoped).
good_vibes 9y ago
You're right. My biggest issue with shipping is perfectionism. I guess I should lower my standards a little and just allow myself to look a little foolish just to keep progressing. I'm not Mark Zuckerberg, there is nothing wrong with that.
- trcollinson 9y ago
  One thing to keep in mind is you should not compare yourself to what Mark Zuckerberg is right now. You're at the beginning of a path and he is much further along. When you boil down Facebook to what it was originally when he shipped it was a rather good idea, written as a crud app in php, and looked like this: https://media.licdn.com/mpr/mpr/shrinknp_800_800/AAEAAQAAAAAAAAgvAAAAJGI3ZmFmZjcwLTdkMjUtNDkyYi1hNjU3LTM1OWY3NzE5ZDUzMA.png https://media.licdn.com/mpr/mpr/shrinknp_800_800/AAEAAQAAAAA... Ship, learn, iterate.
  - good_vibes 9y ago
    Yeah, you're right. Happiness = Reality - Expectations. I should put a LOT less pressure on myself and just focus on the process. Reading through this thread tells me I need to adjust some of my underlying beliefs about intrinsic/extrinsic motivation.
wheelerwj 9y ago
nothing banishes doubt faster than success. successfully shipping a product, successfully getting paid, successfully building a team. just like everything else, the only way to prove you can do something is to actually do it.
salmo 9y ago
This so hard. Smart is good. Work product is better. HN is a great place to daydream about the future. But most ideas here are months away from production in any meaningful sense, if they ever really see the light of day. Enjoy HN for what it is. Take what you know, build the smallest possible functional thing you can and then improve on it quickly. Teach someone else. Then have them teach someone. Get away from being "the guy" as fast as you can. Being "the guy" is a good way to get stuck in a rut. Continuing to deliver on stuff in general is where you want to be. Each project will be better than the one before. You will always remember everything that is wrong with all of them, and that's OK. Keep looking at new things and fold them into your projects when they make sense. Don't be afraid to goof around and not finish things in your free time. That's the equivalent of working out for your brain. There are plenty of smart people who can critique all day or play around with clever ideas or tell you how to do what you're doing in some cooler or more pure way. Everything we love could have been done better, but we remember the folks who did them.
afpx 9y ago
Man, I wish it was that easy for me. After 20 years, I've shipped over a dozen different products, probably over a hundred different versions - products that probably have affected 100s of millions of people (some of these products were libraries used in other big products). And, I've worked for four successful startups through three acquisitions. And, I still feel like an imposter. It sucks. Everyone is different. I wasn't granted the confidence gene, unfortunately. So, I've just had to fake it. I still fake it.

gregpilling 9y ago

This is a great answer. I still think I am clueless, but if I look back at the list of things I have done I am happy enough with myself. I may be clueless, but at least I have tried many things. Some even worked!

pcmaffey 9y ago
> if I look back at the list of things I have done I am happy enough with myself. This is so true, and can be extrapolated on a micro-level, by tracking what you learn and accomplish on a daily (or whatever) basis. I've found training your attention this way a great hack for building confidence and momentum. It's kind of like watching a plant grow. You normally don't notice all the little things, until it adds up to magic. Shameless plug, but one thing I'm proud of building was a micro-notes app for tracking these micro-accomplishments. https://www.bicycl.com https://www.bicycl.com

vitus 9y ago

To add onto this: narrow scope if you're still struggling to ship product. I know I've been guilty of biting off more than I can chew, then feeling inadequate when I fail to deliver (or deliver much less than hoped).

good_vibes 9y ago

You're right. My biggest issue with shipping is perfectionism. I guess I should lower my standards a little and just allow myself to look a little foolish just to keep progressing. I'm not Mark Zuckerberg, there is nothing wrong with that.

trcollinson 9y ago
One thing to keep in mind is you should not compare yourself to what Mark Zuckerberg is right now. You're at the beginning of a path and he is much further along. When you boil down Facebook to what it was originally when he shipped it was a rather good idea, written as a crud app in php, and looked like this: https://media.licdn.com/mpr/mpr/shrinknp_800_800/AAEAAQAAAAAAAAgvAAAAJGI3ZmFmZjcwLTdkMjUtNDkyYi1hNjU3LTM1OWY3NzE5ZDUzMA.png https://media.licdn.com/mpr/mpr/shrinknp_800_800/AAEAAQAAAAA... Ship, learn, iterate.
- good_vibes 9y ago
  Yeah, you're right. Happiness = Reality - Expectations. I should put a LOT less pressure on myself and just focus on the process. Reading through this thread tells me I need to adjust some of my underlying beliefs about intrinsic/extrinsic motivation.

wheelerwj 9y ago

nothing banishes doubt faster than success. successfully shipping a product, successfully getting paid, successfully building a team. just like everything else, the only way to prove you can do something is to actually do it.

salmo 9y ago

This so hard. Smart is good. Work product is better. HN is a great place to daydream about the future. But most ideas here are months away from production in any meaningful sense, if they ever really see the light of day. Enjoy HN for what it is. Take what you know, build the smallest possible functional thing you can and then improve on it quickly. Teach someone else. Then have them teach someone. Get away from being "the guy" as fast as you can. Being "the guy" is a good way to get stuck in a rut. Continuing to deliver on stuff in general is where you want to be. Each project will be better than the one before. You will always remember everything that is wrong with all of them, and that's OK. Keep looking at new things and fold them into your projects when they make sense. Don't be afraid to goof around and not finish things in your free time. That's the equivalent of working out for your brain. There are plenty of smart people who can critique all day or play around with clever ideas or tell you how to do what you're doing in some cooler or more pure way. Everything we love could have been done better, but we remember the folks who did them.

afpx 9y ago

Man, I wish it was that easy for me. After 20 years, I've shipped over a dozen different products, probably over a hundred different versions - products that probably have affected 100s of millions of people (some of these products were libraries used in other big products). And, I've worked for four successful startups through three acquisitions. And, I still feel like an imposter. It sucks. Everyone is different. I wasn't granted the confidence gene, unfortunately. So, I've just had to fake it. I still fake it.