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> It's much more comfortable to be the person that "could be X" than to be the person that tries to actually do it. Brilliant insight. Reminds of me this, fro

> It's much more comfortable to be the person that "could be X" than to be the person that tries to actually do it. Brilliant insight. Reminds of me this, from Theodore Roosevelt's Citizenship in a Republic: > It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. Good luck, and go get 'em.

bruce511 9mo ago
I agree, and I'll supplement with this; >> But from now on, I'm either gonna be a successful founder, or I'm not. And if I'm not, I'll have to deal with having broken with the expectations that people had of me. Don't worry, they expected you to fail. They hoped you'd succeed, but expected failure. Statistically most businesses fail, and failure rates are faster when your customers are VCs not users. I say this as encouragement, not criticism. Accepting that failure is (by far) the most likely outcome is both realistic and freeing. The anxiety of failure is gone. Frankly, your lack of marketing experience would worry me. Without the ability to reach users (much less customers) how can you do anything but fail? New businesses are not bounded by technical ability (especially in the age of AI) they are bounded by Marketing.
- what 9mo ago
  Who needs marketing when the VC can get their entire portfolio to buy your product.
  - ipaddr 9mo ago
    VCs are the best advertising.
    - bruce511 9mo ago
      Leaving aside for the moment yesterday advertising and marketing are very different functions (advertising is easy, marketing is hard); If your target customers are "VC funded companies" then sure, getting in bed with as many VCs as possible is certainly one marketing approach (and probably a good one.) Certainly you're are a lot of products targeted at businesses who are flush with cash and eager for kit like fancy chairs. The important part of marketing is knowing who your potential customers are, and the best way for them to get to know you.
roenxi 9mo ago
Yeah but the US presidents would say that - they typically have track records of wanton destruction that are rather easy to criticise. It is notable that Roosevelt was part of a generation of global political leadership that bungled their way into first an economic then a literal bloodbath, the magnitude of which the world has not seen before or since. And US policies had a major hand in setting up 50 years of communist ascendance across a big chunk of the globe. I think he might have nuked two cities on the way through too, don't recall if it was him [EDIT]. If those were events I was involved with, I too would be giving powerful speeches about the importance of disregarding critics. The decision makers only handled the situation well if you assume that the catastrophe of the early part of the century was a bit like weather, sort of coming form nowhere in a way no-one could foresee or really influence. [EDIT] I checked, he set the program up but it was his successor that actually dropped the bombs. If Truman had any sense he'd also be talking about the importance of disregarding critics.
- pjc50 9mo ago
  A) wrong Roosevelt B) there's no way for the US to not get involved in WW2 other than pre emptive handover of the Philippines to Japan.
  - roenxi 9mo ago
    There is a lovely synthesis of A and B though - looking at the Wikipedia page for the right Roosevelt, he was involved in the Philippine–American War where they occupied the Philippines in the first place (or pacified, if you prefer, I suppose they'd probably already occupied the place in advance of the war). So if you're complaining about the Japanese conquering the Philippines you'd have to agree that Teddy Roosevelt deserved some criticism for also doing exactly that? The criticism basically writes itself. These people are very easy to criticise, they were mostly horrible. Just saying, it is easy to see why there are speeches around about how the critics ought be discounted. The track record invites harsh criticism.
    - mlrtime 9mo ago
      The thing with critics is that anyone can be one, it's easy, especially with hindsight. What is difficult is being in the position of ultimate responsibility over the lives of many people, making a decision and living with it. Everyone thinks they know what is best or what they would do, I don't think so. Criticism (IMO) should always have a response on what should have been done instead, given the information at the time. Otherwise it's just playing Monday morning quarterback.
trwhite 9mo ago
> It's much more comfortable to be the person that "could be X" than to be the person that tries to actually do it. It’s much more impressive to say you have done something than to say you’re going to do it. A friend of mine has all these failed hobbies he tells everyone he’s going to do, then gives up on. I wait a few months before telling people I’m doing something so I’m fairly confident it’s something I will carry on.
- MonkeyClub 9mo ago
  > A friend of mine has all these failed hobbies he tells everyone he’s going to do IME over years, when you're talking about doing something your actually doing it is thwarted. I've noticed that that both with myself and with others. Keeping mum and going about it privately, then sharing it when done, seems to have much higher success rates. I've tried to reason through it in many different ways: talking about it satisfies you and you don't seek satisfaction from the actual implementation of the idea; talking about it "dissipates the energy"; and a number of other attempts at explanation. But beyond explanations, the anecdata seems to suggest that doing much precede talking about. Even when you're developing something (say, software) in public, first you do then you talk about it in the commit message. This seems to parallel the old dictum that ideas are easy, while working to realize them is the actually hard part. Who'd have thought.
  - dakom 9mo ago
    I agree wholeheartedly. It's like the energy and motivation has to go somewhere, and talking too much is a vacuum.
- jandrewrogers 9mo ago
  Many people like the idea of X much more than the reality of X.
- rjzzleep 9mo ago
  > It’s much more impressive to say you have done something than to say you’re going to do it. From my experience, you have to do both otherwise someone else takes what you do, markets as his own and you get scraps. It keeps happening to me, since I don't generally like to talk about what I do. And I think fundamentally it's a big difference between European and American culture.
toss1 9mo ago
This! That exact line in the OP's article reminded me of that exact quote from T.R. and it's great to see another mind had exactly the same thought to post it.
tarsinge 9mo ago
This kind of warrior ethos outside of fantasy books or games is a huge turn off to me, it feels so anachronistic. I don’t understand why it seems so prevalent in the US, especially as a country built on Christianity that has Jesus coming as an harmless lamb to teach compassion, humility and love. Courage, devotion, perseverance, sure. Victory or defeat? No thanks.
- gnosis67 9mo ago
  Your complaint is well warranted, yet know as one on the other inside, Americans are apathetic and dejected. It is the mob that professes these self delusions as their own. And Americans are not self aware enough to distinguish the mob heads from their own and in the heat of exchange. The individual American goes along with the strongest voice in their head. There have been a valiant few, this is a time of self satisfying rhetoric. Sweet lies over bitter truths, on all sides. Now, the seeds of hypocrisy long since sewn, blossom into a mass mind sickness of self identity we see today. On all sides. Every side, even those twelve sides deep you would not recognize. Power is everyone’s burden, it may only be delegated irresponsibly for so long before it collapses upon itself.
- mionhe 9mo ago
  You're missing the part in Christianity where he comes again, this time as triumphant victor who overcame all things to save the human family.
- like_any_other 9mo ago
  > This kind of warrior ethos [..] feels so anachronistic. A succinct condemnation of our times.
  - durandal1 9mo ago
    Also a succinct condemnation of HN as a hub for strivers.
- rrvsh 9mo ago
  i used to shun this kind of rhetoric when i was younger, preferring to think of myself a scholar among the Simon the chipmunks of the world, but I've come to accept that humans are made to fight. i dont think its wrong to venerate the warrior - im the farthest thing from a US citizen or a Christian, but my culture still has their folk heroes. look up lieutenant adnan if you'd like a stirring of the spirit
JKCalhoun 9mo ago
That was the part that stood out for me as well. I know people who have talked that talk, never dared walk it. I am happy with myself that I have walked that walk—many times. Most of the time they have not ended up how I had hoped they would in my imagination. Other times, they did. Regardless, in all cases, I am not left here now wondering what would have happened if… Getting a game I wrote published in 1989 or so was one that worked out. Hitchhiking from Alaska back to the Lower-48 when the salmon season closed was another. Quitting Apple to write games for the iPhone was a big fail. When I realized it though I applied and was hired back at Apple. Until that little experiment though I had been watching apps skyrocket to the top-10 while I unable to submit an app of my own (Apple policy, of course). I had an idea for a great fantasy novel in my head for years. Only when I finally forced myself to start to write it did I realize I really didn't have an idea for a great fantasy novel. I had part of an idea for a great fantasy novel. And then there's the middle of the story you have to write, has to be interesting… But as I say, in all cases at least I'm not stuck in Walter Mitty's [1] shoes for the rest of my life. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Mitty https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Mitty
- jandrewrogers 9mo ago
  It is always the "what if" when looking back at the opportunities that presented themselves in life that eat at you. Things that might have been were it not for the lack of courage to try. I rarely regret the things I did that didn't work out, it is always the things I could have done but didn't do. Reducing the number of compelling yet unexplored branches in life significantly increases life satisfaction.

bruce511 9mo ago

I agree, and I'll supplement with this; >> But from now on, I'm either gonna be a successful founder, or I'm not. And if I'm not, I'll have to deal with having broken with the expectations that people had of me. Don't worry, they expected you to fail. They hoped you'd succeed, but expected failure. Statistically most businesses fail, and failure rates are faster when your customers are VCs not users. I say this as encouragement, not criticism. Accepting that failure is (by far) the most likely outcome is both realistic and freeing. The anxiety of failure is gone. Frankly, your lack of marketing experience would worry me. Without the ability to reach users (much less customers) how can you do anything but fail? New businesses are not bounded by technical ability (especially in the age of AI) they are bounded by Marketing.

what 9mo ago
Who needs marketing when the VC can get their entire portfolio to buy your product.
- ipaddr 9mo ago
  VCs are the best advertising.
  - bruce511 9mo ago
    Leaving aside for the moment yesterday advertising and marketing are very different functions (advertising is easy, marketing is hard); If your target customers are "VC funded companies" then sure, getting in bed with as many VCs as possible is certainly one marketing approach (and probably a good one.) Certainly you're are a lot of products targeted at businesses who are flush with cash and eager for kit like fancy chairs. The important part of marketing is knowing who your potential customers are, and the best way for them to get to know you.

roenxi 9mo ago

Yeah but the US presidents would say that - they typically have track records of wanton destruction that are rather easy to criticise. It is notable that Roosevelt was part of a generation of global political leadership that bungled their way into first an economic then a literal bloodbath, the magnitude of which the world has not seen before or since. And US policies had a major hand in setting up 50 years of communist ascendance across a big chunk of the globe. I think he might have nuked two cities on the way through too, don't recall if it was him [EDIT]. If those were events I was involved with, I too would be giving powerful speeches about the importance of disregarding critics. The decision makers only handled the situation well if you assume that the catastrophe of the early part of the century was a bit like weather, sort of coming form nowhere in a way no-one could foresee or really influence. [EDIT] I checked, he set the program up but it was his successor that actually dropped the bombs. If Truman had any sense he'd also be talking about the importance of disregarding critics.

pjc50 9mo ago
A) wrong Roosevelt B) there's no way for the US to not get involved in WW2 other than pre emptive handover of the Philippines to Japan.
- roenxi 9mo ago
  There is a lovely synthesis of A and B though - looking at the Wikipedia page for the right Roosevelt, he was involved in the Philippine–American War where they occupied the Philippines in the first place (or pacified, if you prefer, I suppose they'd probably already occupied the place in advance of the war). So if you're complaining about the Japanese conquering the Philippines you'd have to agree that Teddy Roosevelt deserved some criticism for also doing exactly that? The criticism basically writes itself. These people are very easy to criticise, they were mostly horrible. Just saying, it is easy to see why there are speeches around about how the critics ought be discounted. The track record invites harsh criticism.
  - mlrtime 9mo ago
    The thing with critics is that anyone can be one, it's easy, especially with hindsight. What is difficult is being in the position of ultimate responsibility over the lives of many people, making a decision and living with it. Everyone thinks they know what is best or what they would do, I don't think so. Criticism (IMO) should always have a response on what should have been done instead, given the information at the time. Otherwise it's just playing Monday morning quarterback.

trwhite 9mo ago

> It's much more comfortable to be the person that "could be X" than to be the person that tries to actually do it. It’s much more impressive to say you have done something than to say you’re going to do it. A friend of mine has all these failed hobbies he tells everyone he’s going to do, then gives up on. I wait a few months before telling people I’m doing something so I’m fairly confident it’s something I will carry on.

MonkeyClub 9mo ago
> A friend of mine has all these failed hobbies he tells everyone he’s going to do IME over years, when you're talking about doing something your actually doing it is thwarted. I've noticed that that both with myself and with others. Keeping mum and going about it privately, then sharing it when done, seems to have much higher success rates. I've tried to reason through it in many different ways: talking about it satisfies you and you don't seek satisfaction from the actual implementation of the idea; talking about it "dissipates the energy"; and a number of other attempts at explanation. But beyond explanations, the anecdata seems to suggest that doing much precede talking about. Even when you're developing something (say, software) in public, first you do then you talk about it in the commit message. This seems to parallel the old dictum that ideas are easy, while working to realize them is the actually hard part. Who'd have thought.
- dakom 9mo ago
  I agree wholeheartedly. It's like the energy and motivation has to go somewhere, and talking too much is a vacuum.
jandrewrogers 9mo ago
Many people like the idea of X much more than the reality of X.
rjzzleep 9mo ago
> It’s much more impressive to say you have done something than to say you’re going to do it. From my experience, you have to do both otherwise someone else takes what you do, markets as his own and you get scraps. It keeps happening to me, since I don't generally like to talk about what I do. And I think fundamentally it's a big difference between European and American culture.

toss1 9mo ago

This! That exact line in the OP's article reminded me of that exact quote from T.R. and it's great to see another mind had exactly the same thought to post it.

tarsinge 9mo ago

This kind of warrior ethos outside of fantasy books or games is a huge turn off to me, it feels so anachronistic. I don’t understand why it seems so prevalent in the US, especially as a country built on Christianity that has Jesus coming as an harmless lamb to teach compassion, humility and love. Courage, devotion, perseverance, sure. Victory or defeat? No thanks.

gnosis67 9mo ago
Your complaint is well warranted, yet know as one on the other inside, Americans are apathetic and dejected. It is the mob that professes these self delusions as their own. And Americans are not self aware enough to distinguish the mob heads from their own and in the heat of exchange. The individual American goes along with the strongest voice in their head. There have been a valiant few, this is a time of self satisfying rhetoric. Sweet lies over bitter truths, on all sides. Now, the seeds of hypocrisy long since sewn, blossom into a mass mind sickness of self identity we see today. On all sides. Every side, even those twelve sides deep you would not recognize. Power is everyone’s burden, it may only be delegated irresponsibly for so long before it collapses upon itself.
mionhe 9mo ago
You're missing the part in Christianity where he comes again, this time as triumphant victor who overcame all things to save the human family.
like_any_other 9mo ago
> This kind of warrior ethos [..] feels so anachronistic. A succinct condemnation of our times.
- durandal1 9mo ago
  Also a succinct condemnation of HN as a hub for strivers.
rrvsh 9mo ago
i used to shun this kind of rhetoric when i was younger, preferring to think of myself a scholar among the Simon the chipmunks of the world, but I've come to accept that humans are made to fight. i dont think its wrong to venerate the warrior - im the farthest thing from a US citizen or a Christian, but my culture still has their folk heroes. look up lieutenant adnan if you'd like a stirring of the spirit

JKCalhoun 9mo ago

That was the part that stood out for me as well. I know people who have talked that talk, never dared walk it. I am happy with myself that I have walked that walk—many times. Most of the time they have not ended up how I had hoped they would in my imagination. Other times, they did. Regardless, in all cases, I am not left here now wondering what would have happened if… Getting a game I wrote published in 1989 or so was one that worked out. Hitchhiking from Alaska back to the Lower-48 when the salmon season closed was another. Quitting Apple to write games for the iPhone was a big fail. When I realized it though I applied and was hired back at Apple. Until that little experiment though I had been watching apps skyrocket to the top-10 while I unable to submit an app of my own (Apple policy, of course). I had an idea for a great fantasy novel in my head for years. Only when I finally forced myself to start to write it did I realize I really didn't have an idea for a great fantasy novel. I had part of an idea for a great fantasy novel. And then there's the middle of the story you have to write, has to be interesting… But as I say, in all cases at least I'm not stuck in Walter Mitty's [1] shoes for the rest of my life. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Mitty https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Mitty

jandrewrogers 9mo ago
It is always the "what if" when looking back at the opportunities that presented themselves in life that eat at you. Things that might have been were it not for the lack of courage to try. I rarely regret the things I did that didn't work out, it is always the things I could have done but didn't do. Reducing the number of compelling yet unexplored branches in life significantly increases life satisfaction.