

All this learning means nothing until you make something happen - sivers
http://sivers.org/confidence

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tjsnyder
This is good advice. One thing that has plagued me is that I procrastinate
actual (personal) work with reading blogs/books. This isn't always a bad thing
in that I am learning something, but it can severely set me back on projects.

This is why I now set goals for myself of what I want to finish each month. I
enjoy learning and reading as much as possible, but I now set those aside to
make my "deadlines" for whatever project of the month I have.

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vaksel

       Whether your confidence is naïve, inspired or crafted - you need its high-horsepower engine to get uphill and go anywhere.
    

you don't need horsepower to get uphill, you need torque

~~~
bluishgreen
Horse power = force*distance/time. Torque is cross product(Force, radius
vector to point of contact). For our purpose just force. Since horse power has
a force component in it, it can be used interchangeably with toque for the
above purposes. I cant imagine an engine with zero horse power capable of
producing any torque.

~~~
vaksel
if you are trying to go uphill, would you rather 200 horsepower and 200 torque
or 200 horsepower and 140 torque

~~~
bluishgreen
Notice we have a pedal in the car called acceleration. We do not have 2 pedals
one saying "horse power" and one saying "torque".

Increasing the torque of an engine at a particular RPM is the same as
increasing the power output at the same RPM. If you have experience with a
stick shift, you notice that we shift to a lower gear to go uphill. We are
simply changing the gear ratio. Now why do we do that? We want to make sure
that all the hard work the engine is doing is transformed into something that
moves us up the hill. If we do not lower the gear ratio, the tire will skid
and some of that power will be transformed into heat and go useless (besides
the real possibility of skidding into this side of the valley!) .

So we are not trading horse power for torque, rather we are making sure that
we get all the power to convert into torque by using a low gear ratio. power
--> torque ---> uphill. The thing that is causing the confusion is the low
gear ratio, which has to do with Friction that the tire has with the road.
Friction is the crucial component that transforms engine power capacity into
torque. That's why we have treads in the tire. That is one of the reasons Army
tanks and Bulldozers have continuous tracks, to increase friction.

------
teeja
"I can’t believe how foolish I was to start my first company. Just me in my
bedroom with no experience, making a little website."

Just like Bob Moog in his basement, with no business experience, no business
plan, no PR or HR department, no idea where he was headed, little idea of what
happened before him, out in the middle of nowhere, tinkering his parts
together, invited to conferences he'd never heard of, asking his customers
what they wanted and actually listening.

If you're not making mistakes, you're not trying hard enough.

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andreyf
It bothers me that Derek conflates reading the advice of "business experts"
with "learning". I think reading books like "What Got You Here Won’t Get You
There" should be considered entertainment through novel metaphors, not
necessarily acquiring new knowledge, in the strict sense.

~~~
sivers
So you're saying that reading is just entertainment, never learning?

Or are you just deciding in advance that all books about business are just
worthless fluff?

Not sure what bad book you might have picked up in the past, but it seems your
thinking is prejudiced.

We all get our learning where it gives us the greatest reward.

You chose Rutgers. (Was that just entertainment, not to be confused with
learning?) The teachers/experts there are no better or worse than the teachers
I've chosen, but might have been better for you or worse for me.

Some prefer hands-on experience. Some prefer classroom lectures and homework.
Some prefer reading.

I like all three. I tend to get the biggest bang-per-buck reward from reading,
but that's just me. No need to knock someone else's choice because it didn't
work for you.

~~~
andreyf
_Or are you just deciding in advance that all books about business are just
worthless fluff?_

That's probably closest to what I think. "Worthless fluff" is a little harsh,
but nearly every business book seems to be full of untested generalizations
based on very limited/biased sample sizes. Influence, by Cialdini is one
exception that comes to mind.

To really _learn_ something in the sense of creating a model that represents
reality with a reasonable certainty takes an enormous amount of effort -
several orders of magnitude more than effort than self-declared business
experts put into their books.

------
callmeed
Confidence in entrepreneurship is a delicate balance. You need the drive and
determination to make things happen and overcome obstacles. On the other hand
you can't have so much hubris that you ignore all input and refuse to adjust.

Sorry, but I think there's a flip side to this post that is missing. There is
such thing as a "really bad idea". Combine that with all the other factors
which are beyond your control and all the confidence in the world won't save
you.

Humility is just as important as confidence IMO.

~~~
sivers
Good point. Too much of either is dangerous! Too much confidence, and you
think your shit doesn't stink. Too much humility and you think you're shit.
:-)

~~~
jmtulloss
I don't think it's confidence that makes you naive. I think that too much
confidence may keep you from giving up when you should. You believe that no
matter how many problems you're facing, you'll find a way to make it work.
Inability to take criticism smacks more of arrogance than confidence in my
mind, but maybe it's all semantics.

That being said, I agree with the parent. Humility is as important a trait as
any, not matter your walk of life.

~~~
thibaut_barrere
I tend to think it takes a lot of confidence to give up when you should, too.

You have to be confident enough to believe you'll have another idea next
(either better, or easier to execute...).

------
jasonlbaptiste
There's something to be said about being naive/foolish. I remember when I
first started with this whole entrepreneurship thing. Since I had not seen the
pitfalls and the realities of certain difficulties, I thought anything was
possible. Finding that same level of foolish confidence mixed in with the
occasional reality check can be a powerful thing. Stop looking at the
impossibilities and all the common "this wont work because of x questions".
This quote from notorious big always summed it up nicely for me:

"The key to staying, on top of things is treat everything like it's your first
project, knahmsayin? Like it's your first day like back when you was an
intern. Like, that's how you try to treat things like, just stay hungry."

~~~
dualogy
Jobs said the same thing, but in that unmistakably his, much terser style.
"Stay hungry, stay foolish."

Of course, not too literally: not as hungry and foolish as a savant hunting
for prey. We're talking about markets, too. Observe the heavy brain lifting
going on in entrepreneurship at the same time. One half of the entrepreneurs
brain is, and needs to be hungry and foolish; the other so ruthlessly
rational, perpetually self-scrutinizing, plus balancing and aligning private
goals with public demand. All of this is neither literally the outcome of nor
a requirement for "hungriness" or "foolishness".

~~~
dmoney
Jobs was quoting the last issue of the Whole Earth Catalog.
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1R-jKKp3NA> starting at about 12:50.

~~~
dualogy
Whoa, I forgot that and now remembered... thanks!

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n8dub
A mixture of confidence, curiosity, knowledge, drive and a pinch of irrational
exuberance all seem essential to become a successful entrepreneur, but luck
cannot be overlooked as the defining factor of success. To the extent that one
can create their own luck, are 10,000 hrs of practice more attributable to the
necessary amount of effort required (on average) to create luck rather than
the time required to create expertise - at least in the art/science of
entrepreneurship?

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megamark16
I love these types of posts, they remind me to close my HN browser window and
get back to work on my startup :-) I love browsing the links and discussions
on here, but sometimes I just have to get down to brass tacks and move my
project ahead.

------
messel
the moment we accept something is impossible, it becomes so

