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In 2007 i read a blog post similar to this.... here is an excerpt:

" It was in February this year that I decided to try and make triathlon my career. It was a leap into the unknown: I knew nothing about what it meant to be a professional athlete. Now, two months down the line, I am still climbing that steep learning curve. And believe me, it’s a long slow climb. But what made me take the plunge, give up my job and throw myself into a life of continuous physical pain and torture? It was a case of ‘now or never’. Having just turned dirty thirty, I was getting on a bit and knew that my shelf life, at least at Olympic distance racing, was limited. I had watched the elite women race at the World Champs in Lausanne last February. Could I be as good as them, if not better? Had I fulfilled my potential, or did I have more to give? Had I pushed my mind and body to the limit? If not, what were those limits? What stars was I capable of grabbing? Without giving it a shot I would never know. I never want to look back and say ‘what if’. "

So i said let me come back see how well this person does, will they be a success? Nobody knows. To find out here is the blog from the first post, http://www.chrissiewellington.org/blog/taking-the-plunge/

wow thanks for the link.. i watched the highlights of the Ironman 2010 where she won despite recovering from a recent horrid bike crash.. amazing..

Dreaming is necessary but not sufficient for great accomplishments.

This reminds me of a great line I ran into somewhere: "If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them."

EDITED to add: ah, through the magic of the Web I discover that this quote is from Thoreau. I've corrected my misquotation.

One of my prof's during B-school but it slightly less elegantly but it always stuck with me:

Ideas are a dime a dozen. Execution is the only thing that matters.

I think the Thoreau quote is closer to an antidote than an analog of your quote.

Damn, what can I say? Thanks man! Will take your advise to heart. My post probably came across as a bit too much whinging. Will make sure that I deliver stuff from now on, rather than empty talk.

Good luck =)

The longest journey begins with a single step.

You just quoted my favorite Chinese saying. For the record, 千里之行，始于足下

Not my favorite line from the Tao Te Ching, but a good one nonetheless. I think my actual favorite is the very first verse, where he explains that the entire book is a lie (in a sense). I love that so much.

Yep, if you take nothing else from the Tao Te Ching, the first verse is the most powerful concept. The Tao is personal, nobody can tell you what it is, and thereby have power over you.

May be need add one，think through before action, once begin, never give up , 三思后行，百折不回

And do not underestimate how important this piece is: "...and keep us posted." As edw said, it sounds like you may need people to hold you accountable on your journey (and one of the key ingredients you may lack) ... use us in this capacity. By the way, that's me to a T as well. I need people around that keep me focused on moving forward.

Now go, and to great things worthy of honor.

>Now go, and to great things worthy of honor.

Ok, even I felt motivated after reading this. Thanks!

>Find something that needs to be built (preferably by someone other than yourself).

>The reason you're stuck is because you're too focused on yourself. Remember, it's not about you. It's about others.

I disagree. Often times, great projects start with "scratching a developer's personal itch" (ex: Linux kernel).

If you try to build something for others, it will often be boring and unmotivated. You have to be passionate about making exciting & new things. Most importantly, hack for fun, not to satisfy someone else and get profit.

I've always seen it as a bit of both.

My startup grew out of an open source project designed to scratch my own itch, which was a great way to start. Being my own user, I saw the pain points and could form a true direction. However, that only goes so far, since not everyone is me. At some point you have to start looking at what your users care about, at least as much as what you care about, if you want the growth.

That's where the mix comes in. You shouldn't just develop it solely for someone else, or you may lose that drive, passion and direction (plus what they want and what they say they want aren't always the same thing). At the same time, you must listen to them (if you want to solve their problems) and take their opinions into consideration. Do it right and you end up building for both yourself and your customers.

Sure, there are many examples of projects which started as a developer solving a problem for themselves. However, the ones that still exist are the ones that solved problems for other people at the same time. If you want to be successful you have to look outside the microcosm of yourself and figure out what other people's need are. If you are lucky there will be other people who have exactly the same needs as yourself.

If I am understanding the OP correctly, he is not looking to be an incredible hacker; he is looking to be an entrepreneur. If you want to be a successful entrepreneur you have to follow the market. You have to. There is no other way. If people are not willing to give you their money, you have to do something else or you fail. I completely agree that you have to be passionate about making things, but you definitely don't have to be passionate about making new things, or even exciting things. These things are awesome bonuses, but they are not requirements.

Entrepreneurship is about creating value for other people. It is often not fun and is quite often very uncomfortable. There are moments of dread, hopelessness, and fear. You can reduce the number of these moments by building a company which definitely solves other people's problems.

>You won't want to disappoint someone who is depending on you. Believe me, in your case, this will probably make all the difference.

Here's another expectation to think about: In ten to twenty years, someone is going to run across this thread and this post and ask, "I wonder what happened to Stefan Kueng?", before running a search for "Stefan Kueng."

What do you want this person to find?

I like this:)Good motivational/inspirational post for everyone.

>> The reason you're stuck is because you're too >> focused on yourself. >> Remember, it's not about you. It's about others.

This single line is worth the price of attendance.

When i asked famous spiritual teacher a while ago about "me being depressed and how to solve it" - that exactly the answer I was given: "Depression is focusing on too much me, and very little on others." Hence the solution would be to find and help others - and inevitably help comes back to you.

I cannot relate to much of the OP's story, but nonetheless you just got me so fired up. This is all such damn good advice! Thank you!

>> Somehow, I did get back into it a few years later, but I never really became proficient at it. Again, I was good at learning the basics, reading code, messing around with code snippets on the command line. But I never built anything of value.

> Stop reading code. Stop messing around. Find something that needs to be built (preferably by someone other than yourself). Then build it. Trust yourself and trust the process of building. You will learn what you need when you need it. I promise.

>> I don't have too much time left. My 20ies are gone.

> Bullshit. I didn't do my first startup until I was 32. Stop thinking like that. If you're a programmer, your prime is still 20 years ahead of you. (Believe me, I know.)

The single biggest thing I got out of this. Thanks for your $0.02 edw519.

I will agree with everything except for two points.

The "stop reading code" snippet.. I think its important he continues to read code and mess around, it is what keeps passion alive and influences you. He should start building things on top of what he already doing

Another point, about "the best software is written by one person" is completely false. Any significant software project usually requires a team with good chemistry. You kind of alluded to the whole "genius programmer" myth.

I am not saying people can't write great software or build great products alone. Just that its not good to think of programming as an activity done in isolation. If not just for the fact you can get more ideas and feedback working with a team.

A lot of other stuff you said is sound advice. :-)

So you say Knuth (TEX), Bill Atkinson (QuickDraw, MacPaint, HyperCard), Bellard (ffmpeg, QEMU, etc.) ar all myths?

Really, really motivating. I relate to the OP in a lot of ways. Thanks for posting this, Ed.

That sir, is very good advice. Thank you!

I have similar desires to qisine (though younger and a bit better with pointers), and realise that I need a market myself, but can't find anything that I can do that people would be willing to pay for, or not find an already existing alternative.

Look, anyone is ready to pay for what they need. So instead of finding something people are willing to pay for, start by finding something people NEED (=> solve a problem). Cash will come on its own ;)

> Bullshit. I didn't do my first startup until I was 32. Stop thinking like that. If you're a programmer, your prime is still 20 years ahead of you. (Believe me, I know.)

I love you a little for that

Thanks Ed! That's all I can say at the moment.

Superb advice ed, very superb. Thanks a lot.

Great advice. Not in a similar situation myself, but this reply is quite a motivational treasure.

Another one to add to best of edw519

Always a kind heart :)

thankyou . this advise is very valuable for me atleast.

Great advice!

Thanks Ed.Great advice!

Great advice!