Stop. Just Start!
Ping! A shiny light bulb just started glowing bright. An idea, a wave of motivation washes over you.
You take down a few notes. Maybe you draw a diagram. Some of you might even buy a domain name first and skip everything else.
You sit down and get to work! Researching, analysing blog posts, code or book snippets from a variety of sources. You are nowhere closer to actually starting. But what you do have is a list of URL links saved somewhere "convenient", which you will be sure to revisit.
If this sounds like you or even vaguely familiar then I want you to try one thing and one thing only. Stop! Just start.
Stop over-analysing a solution. Stop reading how someone else approached it (this can come later). Stop bookmarking links "for next time". Seriously, stop right now and just start working on the most bare-bones solution.
Your idea often solves a problem you or someone else has encountered. Start solving that problem right away. Break it down into smaller pieces which are more actionable and get the MVP working. Regardless of how inefficient or how dirty the solution is. Just start.
If you are like me, you often obsess over the solution to your problem not being perfect from the first time. Maybe you are worried you will be judged once it's public or maybe you are too overly concerned about the project structure. These are the trivial details that we always tend to overanalyse. It will take its toll on you and you undoubtedly will never get any closer to that idea becoming a reality.
Unless you are a truly gifted individual, you will never come up with the perfect solution the first time. This is perfectly okay. It's often necessary! You will only learn by doing the work yourself and part of that work involves making mistakes. Embrace this and just start.
I'll leave you with some points to ponder over next time that idea hits.
- Failures help build knowledge. Learnings come from the failures (cliché, I know...).
- The faster you make mistakes, the quicker you learn.
- Get feedback as soon as possible.
- If the solution exists, build it yourself anyway. You will understand it at a deeper level.
- Reading articles and blogs often gives the feeling of progress. But getting your hands dirty is where the learning truly happens. Be careful not to fall for this feeling of false progression.