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Let's say for a minute that there are only 1000 developers that post stuff to HackerNews. Each of them only needs to make something neat once every 3 YEARS for
by swanson 13y ago
Let's say for a minute that there are only 1000 developers that post stuff to HackerNews. Each of them only needs to make something neat once every 3 YEARS for the the front page to have one instance of brilliance every day.
Now imagine there are 10k developers that post stuff to HN. Each would only need to produce something amazing every 30 YEARS to get something on the front page!
It's hard to see your own improvement -- your day-to-day performance doesn't seem to be any different. On the internet, it seems like everyone is doing cool stuff all the time and you are falling behind. You aren't alone, I get this feeling all the time; we are always our own toughest critic and usually the last ones to praise ourselves.
So don't sweat it! If you make something awesome in the next few years, you are ahead of the curve :) Why not start today?
Take an hour this week to look back at your own year's accomplishments and I think you'll find that you've done and learned more than you thought.
- bndr 13y agoThanks for the encouragement!
- swanson 13y agoI wasn't kidding about taking an hour either - go do it and write up your accomplishments on a blog, even if you are the only reader (though I'd love to read it!). I've done it myself for the past two years and it always helps me when I get these kind of feelings.
- bndr 13y agoWriting to blog about my mothly/yearly accomplishments actually sounds like a very good idea. Thanks! :)
- joshmn 13y agoTotally agree with this. Learn by doing. Just create something, drop some acid, create some more, and sooner or later you'll find that you accidentally built something spectacular.
- scotth 13y agoDrop some acid? Yeah, I guess you could, but it's far from a free ticket. Besides, it's really easy to be creative without it. There's just one thing you have to do -- think. Just always keep your eyes open to the things that don't work as well as they should, and work to improve them. Just start. Start small. Build out the core, then go bigger. Let it consume you. A million great ideas come out of any kind of work you feel passionate about. Just find something that sucks and improve it. Once you get the ball rolling you'll have more ideas than you could build in a lifetime.
- tmikaeld 13y agoDropping some acid is effective though, the statement that you can do 8 years of therapy in 8 hours still holds - but like any drug, it's a tool - what you do with that tool/power is entirely up to you.
- joshmn 13y agoIt was more or less just a funny, but not so well-received. So hard to convey lols through text. But, your point, it's really easy to be creative without it, I would argue against. You can't teach creativity. You can't learn creativity. Creativity is something you're born with and developed subconsciously. You can't consciously be creative. You can consciously think out of the box, sure, but as a true creative individual myself, there's such a fine line between the two.
- scotth 13y agoMeh, I beg to differ. To each their own, I suppose.
- dirktheman 13y agoI don't agree, you CAN learn creativity. Watch this great lecture from John Cleese from 1991: http://vimeo.com/18913413 http://vimeo.com/18913413
- deleted 13y ago