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Why fly to the moon when you can simply stay here on Earth and watch someone else do it on TV? Why run a marathon when you could drive instead? Why read a progr

Why fly to the moon when you can simply stay here on Earth and watch someone else do it on TV? Why run a marathon when you could drive instead? Why read a programming book when there's a perfectly good movie sitting in your DVD player? Ambition. "Educated" risk taking. Non-complacency. A desire to push yourself farther than what society says you should be. To invent something new, world changing. To throw an economic monkey wrench into someones inefficient/crappy invention. To think on your own. To live and die on your own merits. Many will have different answers as to what motivates them to do it. It's definately not for everyone. You usually "know" if you want to do a startup or not. It's extremely challenging. Not doing one is a perfectly fine choice. Live your life the way you please.

matwood 16y ago
"Why fly to the moon when you can simply stay here on Earth and watch someone else do it on TV? Why run a marathon when you could drive instead? Why read a programming book when there's a perfectly good movie sitting in your DVD player?" I get asked these sorts of questions about a lot of things I do, and honestly I often don't have a good answer. Why do I keep trying to start a business? Why do I climb mountains? Why do I go to the gym? The best I've come up with is to prove to myself that I can because it's certainly not fun all the time. In fact it's often quite painful, but once you've tasted the elation of success it's like a drug and keeps pulling you back in.
- hugh3 16y ago
  Why run a marathon when you could climb a mountain? Why climb a mountain when you can write a novel? Why write a novel when you can compose a symphony? Why compose a symphony when you can run a marathon?
  - adamtj 16y ago
    Why run a marathon? Because if you try to climb a mountain, you'll get distracted by your novel, which you won't finish because of the symphony you've got in mind. At some point, you just have to pick something and do it. Do it until you are good enough that starting over with something else just seems like an unsatisfying waste of time. If you don't pick something, you won't ever do anything of note.
- rythie 16y ago
  Climbing up that mountain isn't always fun but the sense of achievement when you get to the top is always good.
- adamtj 16y ago
  You can either experience fear of the unknown, or the pain of finding out. They both hurt, but fear diminishes you, while knowledge makes you powerful. You can wake up the morning of your local 5k Turkey Trot with a gut full of fear, or you can pop out of bed excited, knowing it'll be a walk in the park compared to the marathons you've run.

matwood 16y ago

"Why fly to the moon when you can simply stay here on Earth and watch someone else do it on TV? Why run a marathon when you could drive instead? Why read a programming book when there's a perfectly good movie sitting in your DVD player?" I get asked these sorts of questions about a lot of things I do, and honestly I often don't have a good answer. Why do I keep trying to start a business? Why do I climb mountains? Why do I go to the gym? The best I've come up with is to prove to myself that I can because it's certainly not fun all the time. In fact it's often quite painful, but once you've tasted the elation of success it's like a drug and keeps pulling you back in.

hugh3 16y ago
Why run a marathon when you could climb a mountain? Why climb a mountain when you can write a novel? Why write a novel when you can compose a symphony? Why compose a symphony when you can run a marathon?
- adamtj 16y ago
  Why run a marathon? Because if you try to climb a mountain, you'll get distracted by your novel, which you won't finish because of the symphony you've got in mind. At some point, you just have to pick something and do it. Do it until you are good enough that starting over with something else just seems like an unsatisfying waste of time. If you don't pick something, you won't ever do anything of note.
rythie 16y ago
Climbing up that mountain isn't always fun but the sense of achievement when you get to the top is always good.
adamtj 16y ago
You can either experience fear of the unknown, or the pain of finding out. They both hurt, but fear diminishes you, while knowledge makes you powerful. You can wake up the morning of your local 5k Turkey Trot with a gut full of fear, or you can pop out of bed excited, knowing it'll be a walk in the park compared to the marathons you've run.