We were taught to fear mistakes like they were fire. I say: light the match.
I've been writing a lot of code and pursuing some artistic avenues in between to try to wean off the burnout monster that tries to bring me into his clutches.
Ruthless Iteration
Something I've come to realize—whether it's trying new things like artistic pursuits or honing a skill I'm supposed to be comfortable with but constantly trying to expand my knowledge base in, like coding—is the power of relentless iteration.
Societal Conditioning
Growing up, we're conditioned by society to not value iteration as much as I believe we should. When you get an exam back, it's very rare that your teacher will let you do test corrections on it to get points back. When you eventually get a job, you're very much expected to get things right on the first try—because any mistakes you make mean loss for the business, sure.
The Cost of Risk Aversion
But there's an inherent cost associated with this. Someone with a latent risk aversion won’t actually make fewer mistakes—they might make more. Also, while making more mistakes, they might not internalize them and grow from them. So I'd like to offer a highly privileged and powerful solution.
Attenuate the Noise
Stop giving a fuck.
Put out trash.
Very frequently and consistently put out so much trash you begin to wonder if you should get a career in waste management. Now, the end goal isn't to actually produce trash full time—although you could have a very lucrative career doing so. I mean, just look at the current state of content creation. It rewards plentiful trash content over less frequent polished videos, resulting in a massive pile of creators producing complete garbage to audiences of millions.
I LOVE TRASH
But anyways, the trash in this brain dump is an intermediary step—both for you and for me. Put out so much trash until you have no choice but to write something good. That is the secret I've uncovered.
Startup Mode and Mental Rewiring
I've been putting more and more chips into my startup as of late—building, shipping features. Specifically, while consuming content from the YC startup school, I realized a large hurdle in starting a venture for many is rewiring their brain from the societal limiters that are put on them from a very young age. This can be an incredibly difficult, if not downright impossible, task for some. But I believe if you can successfully rewrite the firmware that was implanted on you—like a cyborg gone rogue—you will put yourself ahead of everyone else still operating on the firmware of those meant to follow.
Take the Risk, Own the Consequences
What I mean is: you need to take some risk. No matter what you do in life, you're taking risk just by existing. So wouldn't you rather have the risk be due to something you can control? I mean, of course that means it's your responsibility if something bad happens to you and not some outside force. For some, that's a pressure they can't handle—but personally, I feel it’s necessary.
Put Out Trash
So I say do it.
Produce the trash until you find gems.
And then polish the gems.
And continue producing trash until the trash is less frequent than ever before—and then your trash ends up looking like another person’s gems.
The MVP Trap
See, something that's really haunted me during launching my startup is getting a perfect MVP on launch. I realized this is stupid as fuck because I don't actually know what a perfect MVP is. A perfect product comes from relentless iteration cycles based on rapid feedback collection from users.
Or at least, the feedback collection is a part of it.
Cube World
When I was growing up, there was a game called Cube World many people waited 10 years to release.
The developer built in a vacuum—so much so that on release, everyone hated the game.
I fully believe if he built openly and collected even a little bit of feedback, this guy would have not only been a household name but Cube World would be something more likened to Minecraft and Terraria. But instead, it fell into irrelevancy because the developer failed greatly. After his sad launch, I think he quit. The pressure of a failed launch after 10 years of closed development must have been too much for him to bear—even if he had every right to start iterating after the launch.
Final Words
Anyways, I've rambled on for quite some type.
Iterate like your life depends on it.
Societal limiters aren't real—they're just things authority figures have convinced you are true about yourself growing up.
You can do great things.
Even if you don't know it yet.
Even if no one else can see it.
I can see it.
Because you're a human with limitless potential.
And everyone before you was a human with limitless potential.
So charge forth despite the obstacles.
You have a world to win.