For too long I’ve filled my head with dreams of doing great things. It’s gotten to the point that the thoughts themselves eventually feel as though I’ve actually done something when really all I’ve done is daydream and yap ad nauseum without ever lifting a finger. Why? Well, the more I think of it the more I come up with laziness and fear as the reasons behind my otherworldly inertia. Laziness because it’s easier to dream than it is to do, and fear because I’m afraid of failure. With me, everything needs to be perfect, everything needs to be a success.
Well, I just turned 30 two months ago and, wakeup call, almost none of my grandiose dreams have materialized. Now I don’t know if it’s because people get all introspective and stuff when they mark a new decade or if the timing just happened to work out this way, but I’ve gotten to thinking, “you only get one shot at this life and when it’s over, it’s over, so what the heck are you sitting around wasting your time dreaming when you can be doing?!” And that’s exactly what I intend to do. I’ve had a lot of pet projects in my head and the only way they’re ever going to see the light of day is if I start to crack that door open and let a little sunshine in. And did you know that Bill Gates was the first person to become a billionaire at the age of 30?
To accomplish some of the goals I have (specifically in the web world) I’ll have to climb a few Everests. For starters, before I can even move on my ideas I’m facing learning curves that are just huge! In trying, I’ll likely fall flat on my face and fail several times, and spectacularly at that. But at this point I’d rather do that than spend another day daydreaming and boring everyone who’ll listen with stories and ideas that never see the light of day.
Now you may be asking why I’m writing all of this? Well, it’s partly for accountability through the fear of public humiliation. I’ve come out and shared my intentions, after a fashion, and will look like an idiot if I don’t at least do something. So here’s looking to the long, painful and sure to be frustrating, uphill road ahead that will hopefully yield some satisfactory results along the way.
It is not the critic who counts, not the one who points out how the strong man stumbled or how the doer of deeds might have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred with sweat and dust and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, if he wins, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.
–Theodore Roosevelt, Twenty-sixth President of the U.S. 1901-1909 ★
Bah… there’s no better time than now to start commenting [wink] [wink]
Strange that 3 in front really seems to have that effect on people. Am thinking almost exactly the same since a little more then a year m
now. And even missed out on an opportunity to actually climb the Mt. Everest. So obviously I’ll have to move more online.
There’s never a bad time to start climbing. And yes, you’ll probably fall on your face a few times — everyone does. Even Bill Gates (he did, and he still is.)
I’ve fallen on my face a few times…I think it’s because one foot is bigger than the other…
There are plenty of good resources online about failing and learning from it — I’ve been thinking a lot about that recently: http://www.igotnewsforyou.com/blog/2006/07/embrace-failure-learn-from-it-and-you.html
Good luck and happy birthday! 30 is a big one, I remember it semi-fondly. *grin*
Congratulations Ara to come once more to this conclusion (that doing is better that daydreaming).
I think dear Teddy said it best [you were quite prozaic as well!]. I have learned this truth in my life already. I’m a passionate man. It’s a double-edge sword. You are too Ara. Passion can be a wonderful fuel – just gotta start that passion-engine. It is wonderful to be at once realistic, but also stubborn and just doing it – whatever ‘it’ may be.
You know how many projects I started myself – and so many seemed insurmountable. Sometimes I would look at things and tell myself ‘I have no idea how I will EVER do this’. Yet I did it. Baby steps, and a lot of research and trial and error was what it took. Funny thing is, along the way, people either admired my stuborness (or perseverance, seems to be a synonym in this context, hehe) or they disimissed me and counted the days when I would fail. I smiled at both – I couldn’ have cared less what anyone thought, because, I TRIED. That’s it! And when it was over, I once again looked at my now completed project and once again I thought to myself ‘I don’t know how I DID it, but I must have done it, because no one else did it for me…’
Have faith in yourself. And if, at the end of the day, you can tell yourself (not anyone else – you can lie to others, but never to yourself) I have done my best and utmost, well then Ara, no mather the outcome, you have done it.
Best of luck, and keep us posted! (And finish that damn book! I’d like to buy it, read it, critique it and put it on my shelf!)
Well… if your to take on mount everest I suggest you take spend a lot of time preparing, learning, training, etc… so by the time you have everything you need, global warming will have made mount Everest a tropical garden.
See… good things come to those who wait… for global warming.
Otherwise, if your in a hury I can lend you a pair of mittens.
I’m curious what kind of Everests you have in mind. Your network of friends and blog readers may be able to assist you in climbing, and then the trek won’t be quite so arduous. Write about as much as you can comfortably share, and we’ll try to pitch in and give some good ideas or constructive criticism.
franky: You missed out on the real Everest? That’s crazy… I’d say “you should go for it anyway” but then again, people die trying and I’d hate to have your death on my conscience ;)
Ben: Good to know I’m not alone, and thanks for the link!
Peter: Baby steps, baby steps, baby steps…
Mike: My Everests include learning new technologies in order to put my ideas in motion. So far I’ve conquered MySQL and PHP as of the writing of this post (on Linux to boot!) I’ve still got some mountains to climb (writing software that learns, for example). I’ve got to keep telling myself that “too difficult” isn’t an option and if someone else is able to do it, I’m just as able. I’ve just got to get past the mental block that’s telling me I can’t. I also have personal Everests to climb. You know, things that normally get turned into new years resolutions and are just as quickly dropped the day after the ball drops :-). Must. Get. Back. On. Horse. I would like to write a novel (and a book on web development) and it isn’t that I haven’t already tried. I’m just dealing with that finite commodity we call time, and I’m a little in the red right now. :-) I find that breaking the tasks down into smaller chunks helps so maybe I’ll serialize my novel writing in blog form (though I’m thinking I’ll keep it separate from this site so I don’t mix the content too much).
So there you have it. :-)