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Wow, I thought I would resurrect my HN account for this. I wrote this article a little over a decade ago, when I was still in college, and I knew almost nothin
by redfloatplane 5y ago
Wow, I thought I would resurrect my HN account for this.
I wrote this article a little over a decade ago, when I was still in college, and I knew almost nothing about the world. (I still don't, but I didn't then, either) It's fun to see that it still resonates with people despite the naivety and the slight sense of "I am headed for success" that makes it hard for me to re-read.
My initial reflection on the article was that I had fallen off the "do things, tell people" wagon a little bit, having let go of my twitter account and with it much of the easiest path to doing things and telling people. I still work in tech but I haven't created anything I'm particularly excited about in a good while, so I felt that I was failing my own ideal.
Then, of course, I remembered that I hiked all of Ireland's long-distance trails (https://toughsoles.ie https://toughsoles.ie) and have a reasonably successful, if niche, youtube channel (https://youtube.com/toughsoles https://youtube.com/toughsoles). Funny that my mindset, especially regarding this article, is so tech-focused that I automatically discount something I've been doing for five years.
All that said, I'm starting to look for new opportunities in the larger-than-startup space. Shoot me an email at carl@flax.ie and let's chat.
- pcurve 5y agonot going to lie, I just automatically assumed you were male. Love your persistence in maintaining your channel going.
- redfloatplane 5y agoAh, that's my partner Ellie that you've seen! I am male.
- Gentil 5y agoThis comment of years can be categorized under "Do things, tell people" rule. haha. You wrote and you're telling people about your life after it. It was a good read. Hope you get good leads from here!
- redfloatplane 5y agoThe trick is to sneak it in under a bunch of self-effacement! ;)
- JKCalhoun 5y agoHa ha, no I caught that. Seriously though, I like your advice, I am someone who thinks the same way. I have artistic daughters that I have tried to instill this in since they were young. Publish or perish is another way I put it. Or it will manifest itself as, "Got a good idea for a novel or video game? Cool, write it. Because you better believe that nearly everyone you meet every day also has a great idea for a novel or video game (or movie, etc.). The difference between Ray Bradbury and everyone else is that Bradbury sat in front of a typewriter every day." (It's possible too of course that Ray had some pretty good ideas though that not all of us had.) That also points to the sad reality that I have found (now in my 50's BTW, no college undergrad). So many people are not motivated to "do", I think that first came home to me when I was writing shareware games and sending floppy disks of the source code to people that would write me (send me a check). My thought was that, having been handed compilable sources, each one of these people would have read the code, gutted it, refactored it, added their own art/sounds and started putting out their own games. That it was just the "how to" they were missing. Not so as you might (now) imagine. Taking that step to create really is a difficult one for a lot of people. Further, going beyond "demo" and adding scoring, game completion, configurable controls, high scores, about box.... Very few put in that extra (and frankly tedious) effort.
- vaylian 5y agoDo you think you will write a follow-up?
- redfloatplane 5y agoI was thinking about it, but to be honest, I'm not sure I'd have anything new to say beyond what's in my comment!
- bartq 5y agoAdd your comment as [After 10yrs update] section in your post :)
- fifteen3 5y agoThere are 3 things. Learn, Build, Show. In your words Do things, Tell people, reflect… repeat . This is the smallest feedback loop of intentional development.
- redfloatplane 5y agoAnother keyword or two and we've got ourselves ISO50001!
- fifteen3 5y agoDon’t focus on the words, focus on the meaning.
- cirgue 5y ago> All that said, I'm starting to look for new opportunities in the larger-than-startup space. Shoot me an email at carl@flax.ie and let's chat. Damn, you’re good.
- redfloatplane 5y agoWait 'til I tell you that the original article was also basically just marketing. It's conceptually recursive
- ismail 5y agoThanks for the link to the tough soles site. As an avid hike, Ireland was not in my bucket list. will definitely add it to the list.
- redfloatplane 5y agoYes, we always heard people tell us that Ireland was an amazing place for hiking, but being Irish ourselves, we didn't quite see it that way - until we walked it. It's really spectacular landscape, although some access issues can mar the experience a little bit. It's certainly a lovely place to go regardless!
- holler 5y agoThank you for the original article! Reading it last night gave me a jolt of motivation with the project I'm working on :) Have built it and now time to talk to people!
- redfloatplane 5y agoI'm so glad you liked it! Best of luck with the project and with telling people about it!