Stop waiting for your big idea, learn to get shit done | Hacker News Reader

Stop waiting for your big idea, learn to get shit done

startupnorth.ca

53 pointsjmacd17 comments

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Ok let's do one thing. No more post about the topics below for about one month:

- "motivational" post, (you may ask if you need it, but unless someone asks please do not freely give any for 1 month)

- "Twitter related" post (let's let this guys Be )

- "I quit..." (Good, here is a candy and now please go work on your Google meets Twitter killer app)

* and finally Ask "Do I really find this interesting?" before hitting Submit ( I will do this one more often myself)

The topic isn't the problem. Any of the things you cited could be good posts.

They just need a little meat on the bones, preferably from personal experience, not just a list of the obvious. Tell us something we don't know.

Mainly applies to regular HN users? New/infrequent users will not be aware of this (without a sticky or an intro or more vocal policing!?!) so the problem will persist. Other than implementing this upon ourselves how can it be applied to others effectively?

Then it's your job as a regular to flag those posts and state the reason why you flagged it.

Good concept, but rehashed here many times. This time lacking in details or interesting anecdotal evidence.

It is a very tough thing to do though - getting started. I am currently trying to help a friend get going and he is really struggling. After university working about 1 hour a day, and then in his career for the last few years doing the same he is struggling to put in enough hours to get anything rolling. If someone has a tutorial for that - I would definitely appreciate that and forward it on.

Stop waiting for your big idea, learn to get shit done

That's like telling a farmer, "Stop waiting for your crops to grow; plant some seeds first."

For hackers, DoingStuff = PlantingSeeds.

To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan, and not quite enough time.

- Leonard Bernstein

This is pretty much the most valuable advice anyone could give. Ideas are worth nothing, implementations are worth everything.

(Of course, in my broad over-generalization we have to include the fact that people who ship are people who succeed).

If ideas are worth nothing, why do we try to have good ones?

So that we'll have something to implement, thereby creating value?

I totally agree. You might have a good idea, but if you don't implement it timely or even ever, its worthless.

Because it is easier to talk about doing than actually doing and anticipation of a dream can be better than the fulfillment of it.

"There is a mental or first creation, and a physical or second creation to all things" -Stephen R. Covey from "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People"

Yeah, we shouldn't underestimate how hard "Getting shit done." really is.

For example, I downloaded the iPhone SDK on the first day, and have been in the programme for ages, and only now do I have some actual code running, and even that doesn't do that much, except scratch a personal itch.

Scratching this itch took until well after 1am last night, and probably the same today.

No wonder my company wants me in a fabric box 9 hours a day!

I agree with this point of view, but I think it could be taken the wrong way and I don't think that it should apply to all wannabe entrepreneurs. There's a fine line between a good product or driving force of a startup, and just creating shit because someone gave you a little kick in the ass...

I dunno -- a few people here are tired of this kind of post, and I understand why: we seem them a lot.

But some of us need a regular asskick. So we don't mind as much.

reality checks once a while :-)

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