Everything must have a beginning

So, historically, I sit around and think about what seems like a good idea. Then I think of potential problems and reality check my expectations. At this point I usually don’t bother because, I mean, what are the odds it’ll succeed, right? Success seems to have more to do with luck than any actual skill or ability.

The reality though, is that the odds of succeeding at something you never start are known. It’s zero. You cannot succeed without starting. It’s been said over and over in so many ways. “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” – Wayne Gretsky, though many other athletes have said similar. “You can’t win if you don’t buy a ticket.” – People telling me why I should buy lottery tickets.

With this in mind, I’m driving home this week, listening to the Massively OP podcast and they’re signing off and I’m like “bugger, I don’t have anything else to listen to.” Then Justin cuts in with a special guest. I’ve never heard of this barghest (note from me in the future: It’s belghast) guy, but I’m thrilled to death and they don’t usually have guests so they have my attention. Turns out there’s going to be something called Blaugust. A month long event encouraging anyone to blog. One post, thirty posts, whatever.

So they’re talking about the YouTube, podcasts, and blogs. I’m thinking about the various ventures I’ve started and left incomplete and figure “screw it, what I got to lose?” So I signed up, and here I am.

Let’s do this.

2 thoughts on “Everything must have a beginning

  1. Skills can be learned, goals can be achieved by simply planning and embarking upon a measured process. Don’t do it for anyone else other than yourself at first. Prove to yourself you can do the thing you want to do. Then it starts to fall in place. Think of all the other skills in life that you’ve mastered already. If you can do these you can create content online.

    Oh and from a logical and philosophical point of view, you don’t miss 100% of the shots you don’t take, as you’ve never attempted them to begin with, so they technically don’t exist. Sorry about the pedantry but I hate all those self-improvement aphorisms. If you want to do something then simply apply a process to it and it will come together. There’s no “mythology” or “magic” to it all.

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    1. Oh, I like you.

      I’ve told some coworkers before, usually in the context of drawing or art, that it is merely a skill that can be acquired and practiced like anything else. Some people seem to have an innate aptitude, but they’ve probably spent, say, a large portion of childhood/young adulthood practicing. I once considered myself “bad at drawing” until I put a little effort in, purely to prove to myself that I could, if I wanted to.

      I also don’t think I defined success in my post, but my expectation are nil. Success is simply doing the thing, having the experience of doing the thing, nothing more. At least at the moment.

      I tried mythology and magic at one point in my life. I discovered that I don’t need it, and surprisingly, it doesn’t seem to exist anyway.

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