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"Dude, sucking at something is the first step towards being sorta good at something." -- Jake the Dog

devin 6y ago
When I was learning to play the game Go, someone told me that there's some old advice about "losing your first 100 games as quickly as possible". That's stuck with me. Another one is (and I don't even know if it's 100% true, but I don't much care) that a common housefly will change its path if it runs into a window more than twice. I strive to be better than a common house fly.
- ISL 6y ago
  There is a photography adage that your first ten-thousand photographs are your worst. I'm not sure I agree -- sometimes you get lucky or circumstance is favorable -- but I am certain that my second ten-thousand photographs were better, on average, than my first.
  - Aeolun 6y ago
    My iPhone photo’s are vastly better than anything I ever took with my DSLR, but I’m positive it’s mostly for that reason. That said, the incredible digital processing helps a lot.
- mirimir 6y ago
  I got basically the same advice from my adviser about collecting data for my thesis. "If too many experiments are failing," he said, "just do more of them, and faster."
- evanmoran 6y ago
  Sometimes I wonder if failing twice is an optimal evolutionary state. Once is not enough to know if it’s worth changing for.
  - _0ffh 6y ago
    Yeah, as a kid this is what always bugged me about Wile E. Coyote.
- pusiko 6y ago
  If at first you don't succeed, try two more times so that your failure is "statistically significant"
  - jimmySixDOF 6y ago
    or: If at first you don't succeed, Sky Diving is not for you.
    - Aeolun 6y ago
      What part constitutes success? Jumping or safely arriving on the ground?
    - pusiko 6y ago
      In that case it's still statistically significant ;)
grecy 6y ago
.. and the only thing that matters is you don't give up.
pcarolan 6y ago
"The secret to making great barbeque is to make a lot of bad barbeque" ~ Aaron Franklin
- v64 6y ago
  To be fair, even Aaron Franklin's bad barbeque is some of the best BBQ you'll ever have.
floatrock 6y ago
"The master has failed more times than the beginner has even attempted."
- 3131s 6y ago
  "A beginner practices until they get it right, a master practices until they can't get it wrong."
  - Smaug123 6y ago
    Although there is a sort of dual "… until they can make their errors beautiful" or something. If you're good enough, it doesn't matter if you make mistakes, because you can turn those mistakes into good things just as quickly as you could have constructed the original correctly.
    - 3131s 6y ago
      It does depend on the medium though, for example painting is pretty forgiving while glass blowing is not at all.
  - RaceWon 6y ago
    > "A beginner practices until they get it right, a master practices until they can't get it wrong." You can get to the point where no one can see any mistakes. It appears perfect... But not to you. The only way to get to that point is to never be satisfied with your own performance, it could always have been a bit better, you could see that small error (or more likely--those small errors) that no one else could see. Ayrton Senna talked about trying to drive the perfect lap using this anology: "It is like trying to tie your necktie so that both ends are exactly the same length; experience and practice say that you can do it--but you can't."
erulabs 6y ago
Oh Adventure Time - has such a special place in my heart. If it does for you too - I could not more highly recommend Pendleton Ward's latest project The Midnight Gospel. "How did you almost know my name?" "I have approximate knowledge of many things, child..."
- aetherspawn 6y ago
  "I have approximate knowledge of many things" - is my favorite quote ever, because it accurately describes my job role as a systems integration engineer. So when my role says electrical and I teach people about cooling, hydraulics, human factors and user experience, some people raise questions and I generally debuff with a paraphrase of this line.
jerzyt 6y ago
There are so many people who don't mind being stuck at "sucking at something" it's outright scary. I'm currently learning Python, and very frequently I feel that my solution is not elegant, and I hate it. I imagine a lot of people would just go along with it. Maybe not on HN, but in general.
dgritsko 6y ago
Whenever someone says they "aren't good at something" I'm fond of reminding them (and myself) that "you don't get better at something by _not doing it_".

When I was learning to play the game Go, someone told me that there's some old advice about "losing your first 100 games as quickly as possible". That's stuck with me. Another one is (and I don't even know if it's 100% true, but I don't much care) that a common housefly will change its path if it runs into a window more than twice. I strive to be better than a common house fly.

ISL 6y ago
There is a photography adage that your first ten-thousand photographs are your worst. I'm not sure I agree -- sometimes you get lucky or circumstance is favorable -- but I am certain that my second ten-thousand photographs were better, on average, than my first.
- Aeolun 6y ago
  My iPhone photo’s are vastly better than anything I ever took with my DSLR, but I’m positive it’s mostly for that reason. That said, the incredible digital processing helps a lot.
mirimir 6y ago
I got basically the same advice from my adviser about collecting data for my thesis. "If too many experiments are failing," he said, "just do more of them, and faster."
evanmoran 6y ago
Sometimes I wonder if failing twice is an optimal evolutionary state. Once is not enough to know if it’s worth changing for.
- _0ffh 6y ago
  Yeah, as a kid this is what always bugged me about Wile E. Coyote.
pusiko 6y ago
If at first you don't succeed, try two more times so that your failure is "statistically significant"
- jimmySixDOF 6y ago
  or: If at first you don't succeed, Sky Diving is not for you.
  - Aeolun 6y ago
    What part constitutes success? Jumping or safely arriving on the ground?
  - pusiko 6y ago
    In that case it's still statistically significant ;)

grecy 6y ago

.. and the only thing that matters is you don't give up.

pcarolan 6y ago

"The secret to making great barbeque is to make a lot of bad barbeque" ~ Aaron Franklin

v64 6y ago
To be fair, even Aaron Franklin's bad barbeque is some of the best BBQ you'll ever have.

floatrock 6y ago

"The master has failed more times than the beginner has even attempted."

3131s 6y ago
"A beginner practices until they get it right, a master practices until they can't get it wrong."
- Smaug123 6y ago
  Although there is a sort of dual "… until they can make their errors beautiful" or something. If you're good enough, it doesn't matter if you make mistakes, because you can turn those mistakes into good things just as quickly as you could have constructed the original correctly.
  - 3131s 6y ago
    It does depend on the medium though, for example painting is pretty forgiving while glass blowing is not at all.
- RaceWon 6y ago
  > "A beginner practices until they get it right, a master practices until they can't get it wrong." You can get to the point where no one can see any mistakes. It appears perfect... But not to you. The only way to get to that point is to never be satisfied with your own performance, it could always have been a bit better, you could see that small error (or more likely--those small errors) that no one else could see. Ayrton Senna talked about trying to drive the perfect lap using this anology: "It is like trying to tie your necktie so that both ends are exactly the same length; experience and practice say that you can do it--but you can't."

erulabs 6y ago

Oh Adventure Time - has such a special place in my heart. If it does for you too - I could not more highly recommend Pendleton Ward's latest project The Midnight Gospel. "How did you almost know my name?" "I have approximate knowledge of many things, child..."

aetherspawn 6y ago
"I have approximate knowledge of many things" - is my favorite quote ever, because it accurately describes my job role as a systems integration engineer. So when my role says electrical and I teach people about cooling, hydraulics, human factors and user experience, some people raise questions and I generally debuff with a paraphrase of this line.

jerzyt 6y ago

There are so many people who don't mind being stuck at "sucking at something" it's outright scary. I'm currently learning Python, and very frequently I feel that my solution is not elegant, and I hate it. I imagine a lot of people would just go along with it. Maybe not on HN, but in general.

dgritsko 6y ago

Whenever someone says they "aren't good at something" I'm fond of reminding them (and myself) that "you don't get better at something by _not doing it_".