
I'm turning 30 and I've produced no amazing art. - spking
http://spking.com/2011/12/17/intervention/
======
huxley
Amazing art is rare at any age. It is better and healthier to focus on
improving your eye and your craft.

I find encouragement in the quote by the painter of "The Great Wave off
Kanagawa", Katsushika Hokusai:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hokusai>

"From around the age of six, I had the habit of sketching from life.

I became an artist, and from fifty on began producing works that won some
reputation, but nothing I did before the age of seventy was worthy of
attention.

At seventy-three, I began to grasp the structures of birds and beasts, insects
and fish, and of the way plants grow.

If I go on trying, I will surely understand them still better by the time I am
eighty-six, so that by ninety I will have penetrated to their essential
nature.

At one hundred, I may well have a positively divine understanding of them,
while at one hundred and thirty, forty, or more I will have reached the stage
where every dot and every stroke I paint will be alive.

May Heaven, that grants long life, give me the chance to prove that this is no
lie."

~~~
intenex
Yeah, too bad he didn't live that long.

Which is exactly the reason we're so rushed ;).

~~~
huxley
For the record he did live to 88, which is a bit more than double my age
(almost triple the original poster's age).

I don't think he believed he would live to 150, but saying that expressed his
feeling of something that was beyond his reach but which animated every moment
of his life and his art.

What I take from the quote is that existence shouldn't be a bell curve, with
half or more of your life as an inevitable decline, but that your youth can be
a foundation upon which to build knowledge and wisdom. You should end up
smarter after many years, shouldn't you?

To be able to look back and smile at one's bravado, knowing that you can do so
much more now, with less effort and rush, and that if you continue striving,
you'll do even more in the future. To deeply and truly understand your craft.

That's what I'd want, a real life worth living, not to be the tech equivalent
of a child star.

~~~
orangecat
_You should end up smarter after many years, shouldn't you?_

Yes, except for the pesky problem where your mind weakens and often falls
apart entirely after not that many decades.

~~~
huxley
That's certainly not inevitable for most people.

If you find that you are declining mentally after 30 or 40, you are either
doing something wrong or are genetically extremely unlucky.

Exercise, a good diet, proper sleep, combined with plenty of intellectual and
social interactions seem to be enough to keep you from measurably losing any
mental faculties well into your 70s or 80s (and even 90+ if genetically
lucky).

~~~
intenex
It actually is inevitable, as even you admit when we begin to reach our
70s/80s ;). If we don't die of something else, all of us will die of
Alzheimer's. Simple fact of universal amyloid plaque buildup.
[http://www.amazon.com/Ending-Aging-Rejuvenation-
Breakthrough...](http://www.amazon.com/Ending-Aging-Rejuvenation-
Breakthroughs-Lifetime/dp/0312367066)

Also technically incorrect on the mental decline as well - our brains _do_
start to irrevocably decline at around age 30. Our myelin sheaths fully
develop in the early 20s, and from there, we have a few golden years until
it's all downhill :D
[http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090320092111.ht...](http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090320092111.htm)

------
city41
I feel like the internet creates a distortion here. Sites like HN make us feel
like everyone is out there creating like crazy and doing all this amazing
stuff. The reality is a very small minority of people are doing this.

Most people don't create much of anything. At least, anything they could have
a major break through on. Most people have day jobs and will always have day
jobs. Most people come home from work and watch TV.

It takes serious discipline to take an idea through to success. If I had to
guess, discipline is a very important trait for startup success. Maybe you'll
never be that disciplined, or maybe it's something you can work on. I can say
for sure I am much more disciplined now (at the ripe age of 34) than in my
20s. Yet I still question if I have what it takes to truly do a startup.

To the OP: I think you should just relax and enjoy yourself, let nature take
over. Not every idea has to be worth a million dollars. My current project and
the one just before it basically have no chance of ever making me any money. I
did them because I enjoyed them. I think that is more important and more
likely to lead you in a direction you want to go.

~~~
andrewflnr
Arguments based on "most people" are not compelling to me. To me, the correct
standard to measure my performance against is my potential. And I know I fall
far short. I feel I should have accomplished more by now, I _could_ have. I
know others have.

I too feel the call of new ideas all the time, and have the same lack of
discipline. I've brought precious few of my ideas to state that could possibly
be called "done", and none to the glorious state I had imagined. I'm not even
talking about making money, just making good stuff for people to enjoy.
Perhaps the biggest difference between me and the author is that I'm still
only 20 and still in school. To accomplish half the things I want to before I
die, I'll have to grow a ton more self-discipline, and sometimes I wonder if I
can do it.

To tell me and people like me "relax, other people are lazy too" is not that
helpful. It's true, "most people" never fully realize their potential. They
have all kinds of bad habits and issues. When have other people's mistakes
been an excuse for mine?

~~~
gnaritas
> I feel I should have accomplished more by now, I could have.

Perhaps the _I could have_ is the little lie we tell ourselves to soften the
blow to our ego. Something to think about.

The problem with living inside your own head is that unlike everyone else, you
judge yourself by what you think you could be rather than what you are. It's a
sort of self deception at play.

~~~
aridiculous
> The problem with living inside your own head is that unlike everyone else,
> you judge yourself by what you think you could be rather than what you are.
> It's a sort of self deception at play.

I really like what you said here. When I think about my more "well-adjusted"
friends, I see that they have a solid set of criteria to compare their
achievements against: a decent job, an apartment, having friends. It amounts
to a basic societal checklist that they can succeed against.

Living in your own head is like extending the goal every time you reach it.
It's like having a carrot attached to a stick that moves with you.

~~~
count
I have this conversation with my wife occasionally.

Those moving goalposts are the difference between 'doing ok' and 'making
progress'.

I had a solid job, benefits, place of my own to live, friends, and a spouse at
25. I went stir-crazy though - at that point, you've 'succeeded', what is left
to do? What's next?

To muddy the metaphor a little - once you've mastered the 30yard field goal,
why keep kicking it? Back up and try the 40, 50, etc. That said, I do think
it's important to remember that you have mastered the 30, and that failure at
the 80 isn't 'failure' in anybody but your own eyes.

------
nhashem
I turn 30 in 5 months and can completely identify with how you've felt. I too
have the dozens of domain names for long-abandoned web applications for some
idea that I thought was a radical spike of insight at the time.

It's a vicious cycle. I get the idea. I register the domain name, already
imagining a brilliant fully-featured yet astonishingly-easy-to-use product. I
start cranking out code. But it takes some time. I realized some problems I
thought were easy are harder. That takes more time. I realize a certain
problem is exceptionally hard and will take me longer than I thought, so I
hack together something that works for now. I realize yet another problem will
take me longer than I thought, and a few weeks pass and I begin to feel my web
application is just a series of hacks. If we're using the art analogy, rather
than the beautiful and crisp design I envisioned, my canvas is filled with
ugly smears and smudges that doesn't look anything like what's in my mind.

And it's always a lot easier to just throw out the canvas and start something
new, than to tediously work out improving those smears and smudges.

So, perhaps one hopeful anecdote I can share: earlier this year I did start a
project that I've finally been able to focus on. The only difference with this
one vs. the others is that I saw a tangible return relatively early on. Two
months after I worked on it, I made $72. That's basically a laughable number,
except it's the first tangible return on the dozens of web applications I've
started and abandoned for the past 5 years. From then on, there's been a
mostly-positive correlation between "hours put into project" and "dollars
earned," which has completely shifted my mentality.

I've begun to take pride in those smears and smudges, knowing I'm already
succeeding to some degree and it could be especially rewarding if I continue.
I have no idea if this would work for you, or anyone else, but like others
have said, this is a process. Everyone designs and creates at their own pace,
and age seemed pretty meaningless to me. In fact it's now that I'm older,
instead of 5 years ago, that I can begin to appreciate my limitations and have
the patience to work with them, instead of ignoring the fact that they exist.

And above all, be proud that in a world where many are content to maintain and
manage (literally and figuratively), you have the desire and the ability to
create and produce. Best of luck.

~~~
chops
Like you, and and I'm sure many of us, I also have plenty of projects I've
conceived up, purchased domain names, and cranked out a bit of code for, only
to let it languish in non-use never to be heard from again.

This is healthy, it helps to weed out the bad ideas, or at least the ideas
that might be promising but for which you don't actually have the passion for
bringing to fruition, let alone maintaining for years should it actually gain
a little bit of traction.

The projects of mine that have stuck around despite my rather fickle nature
are the ones that _really_ hit close to home -- projects for which I clearly
have a need and even more, a passion to keep alive. My current project,
BracketPal[1], is such a project. I'm a pretty hardcore beach volleyball
player, and after playing in many volleyball leagues, both bar/casual and
competitive leagues, I've found the average quality of league websites to be
offensively dismal. So it started as a nugget of "I need to make this, because
I just can't handle getting my schedule emailed to me in a spreadsheet
anymore", to my first paying customers' leagues starting up their indoor
volleyball and kickball leagues this coming January.

Before that, in 2005 I was obsessed with running my World of Warcraft guild to
an unhealthy degree, and so I started up and launched my guild hosting system
in 2006 and it's still around.

In both cases, I would not have managed to create a quality product if I
didn't have a passion, nay, _obsession_ about these particular fields.

So I strongly believe that it's a good thing to cook up a bunch of half-baked
ideas. If you lose interest in them before launching, great, you've found a
project you shouldn't be doing anyway, it's time to move onto another project
- one you might have a bit more serious passion for.

In your case, it's absolutely great getting that first payment, that first
evidence that what you've created is being used and appreciated by people,
even if it iss only $72. It all starts with those first few dollars. And once
you've made something that you're receiving praise _and money_ from your
customers, it becomes a highly addictive drug, except that getting your "fix"
requires you improving your software and keeping your customers happy.

[1] BracketPal is my sports league management system and I'm crazy excited
about it! You can find it shamelessly linked right here:
<http://www.bracketpal.com>

~~~
billpatrianakos
BracketPal is awesome! I'm so glad you made that! That's inspiring to see
people scratch their own itch this way. There's a lot of itch scratching
that's geared more towards businesses and other stuff that is definitely a
niche but yours is in an area where I haven't seen anyone go. It's cool to
know that your tiny little project which you may think is insignificant and
probably won't get covered by TechCrunch or anyone is still useful enough to
people that they'd pay. That gives me hope. Good for you, man.

------
jaysonelliot
This really hits home for me.

I could have written this, except that I can already see 30 a ways back there
in the rear view mirror.

I have just two things that I think are very important to say about this.

1) Don't worry about the fact that you're 30. That line about artists in their
30s or 40s is BS. There is no magical age at which you have to have produced
your magnum opus. Never let the desire to "do something great" prevent you
from doing the work. In fact, that's most likely what is keeping you FROM
doing your great work. As someone who suffers from the same "idea addiction,"
I can say that one of the reasons people like us always chase new ideas is
that we are trying to have our great moment, and are always afraid that if we
buckle down and commit to one of our ideas, it might not be that Great Work,
and we'll end up missing the next great idea when it comes along. So, we are
always looking for the Best Possible Thing, and we don't get down to the work
that really has to happen.

2) Even superstars have to do the dishes. We hear so much about the famous
artists, businessmen, inventors, musicians, whatever, but all we hear about
are their glories. It's boring to talk about all the days of the long grind,
just plugging away to make the donuts. For every eureka moment, there are
hundreds of hours of everyday work. I'm 40 years old, and I've produced, in my
estimation, one "amazing art." It's a magazine I started and ran for eight
years. In retrospect, I feel like it was a non-stop party, but if I really
think about it, the only reason it succeeded was that I had no choice but to
slug it out and put in the 90-hour weeks of boring copy editing, ad sales,
bookkeeping, etc. It's because at the time, it was the ONLY IDEA I HAD. Now
that I have dozens of ideas at any given time, ironically, I get none of them
done. Don't try to create a Great Work. Pick something you enjoy and have fun
making, and just make the hell out of it. If you're lucky, it might even be
"amazing art."

------
softbuilder
The "30 freakout" is one of the great undiscussed traumas in our society. I
don't know if this is just an American thing, or a product of western culture,
or if this is universal. It needs to be addressed, and I wished people started
talking about this to kids in high school. I believe this is a more
significant problem than the mid-life crisis.

For whatever reason (base 10 maybe?) we latch on to 30 as the time by which we
should have some proof that we are on the right track. You can always beat
yourself up at any age by comparing yourself to others. If you're in college,
look at a Galois or a Joan of Arc and you're already a complete failure.

~~~
gnaritas
> The "30 freakout" is one of the great undiscussed traumas in our society.

Must be, because I've never heard of it, nor did I experience it; I don't
expect 40 will be any different.

~~~
softbuilder
That sounds healthy. I would rather have done without it.

------
Breefield
Hah, I'm 19 and relate to this sentiment far too well, except just thinking
back on the last 4-5 years.

I just spent the last 3 months away from the internet, and it was ridiculously
mind-clearing. Burning Man turned into chasing a girl around the West Coast,
turned into coming back to NYC and quitting my job so I can do more of what I
want.

I still haven't really gotten back into Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook like I was
before I left.

I'm not sure how I feel that mental clarity and this 'new idea ADD' are
related. But I definitely feel more centered now. Reflection is key, and
you're doing that. I think that's the first step toward doing what you want to
do.

[edit] I think what I'm trying to say is, eliminate distractions, reflect, and
follow your gut.

~~~
jaysonelliot
Hey, as a 40-year-old, let me just say you're doing it right.

The cool thing about being 19 is you could fuck up totally for, like, five
years and still be young enough to start completely over.

Bravo on learning to focus, bravo on chasing a girl around the West Coast, and
bravo on following your gut.

Keep it up, the 40-year-old you will thank 19-year-old you for it one day.

------
bpm140
At 30 I was miserable because I hadn't done anything massive either. Then I
sold a company for $12M when I was 34, started a company at 35 that is now
(three years later) at a $1M monthly run rate and was an advisor to a billion-
dollar public company.

It's a marathon, not a sprint. You never know what's coming up just over the
next hill.

~~~
poundy
Well done, thanks for sharing!

------
diego
Just because Steve Jobs said it, it shouldn't scare you. Steve Jobs himself
did his best work in his 40s and 50s. If it's true that it's rare that older
people produce "less amazing stuff" (big if), then it's probably because they
simply lose the desire to do it. Family, boredom or health issues get in the
way.

I'm 42 and I'm as productive as I've ever been.

~~~
sliverstorm
What you lose in piss & vinegar, you can replace with experience and wisdom.

~~~
j45
Love the quote, thanks for sharing.

------
peteforde
Lots of opinions and advice here already. Some of it is good, but I felt
strongly compelled to post a dissenting view based on my practical experience
as both an "ideas guy" and as a successful founder of several companies.

It's true that ideas are worthless without execution, but I get bent out of
shape every time someone spouts this mantra because it's only half of the
story. A bad idea well executed is still a bad idea. You can waste a huge
amount of time, money and energy throwing your passion into a bad idea.

Some of the most toxic advice is that you should just "pick one or two of your
ideas and turn the volume up to 11 on them for a few years, no matter what!"
aka "just start, you can always pivot". That's totally bullshit in the real
world. Reputations get tarnished, and every opportunity you take costs all of
the other opportunities you didn't take.

Now, that also doesn't mean that you should curl up in the fetal position and
hope the world stops asking hard questions. It's possible that one of your
ideas is the next Facebook, but the realistic truth is that statistically you
will never dream up the next Facebook.

And that's okay. In fact, it's great. You can start forgiving yourself now.

My feeling is that it's perfectly fine to be addicted to having ideas and
suppressing your excitement long enough to analyze the ideas for flaws. This
isn't time wasted not executing, it's time invested in two valuable
activities: practising the skill of spotting deadly flaws and rolling the dice
on another idea. This is a much more pragmatic opportunity cost than believing
that the world is counting on you to deliver the next major cultural wave, and
soon.

Let's say that you realize none of your ideas (so far) are the next WWW or
automobile. Nobody is going to be disappointed in you for teaming up with
another person to build their idea. Insisting on building your own idea to
feel validated is like refusing to adopt kids with a different skin color — it
doesn't hold up to unbiased scrutiny. So my advice is that you should stop
beating yourself up and be open to opportunities that originate amongst your
self-selected, startup-inclined friends.

------
mathgladiator
I turned 30 today, and I've find myself with a followed trail of crap. I spent
8 years while in high-school/college/grad school working on a game engine that
I threw away. I spent a year working endlessly during graduate studies on a
computer algebra system for college algebra students to provide step by step
instructions. I spent a couple of years in a mathematics graduate program only
to drop out and do a start-up. I was homeless for about a year while studying
math (living in the CS department). When the start-up turned profitable, I got
bored and left.

Now, I look back at all the crap I've made, and I look forward to the things
I'm going to make. The things I make each year get better. They get faster,
more scalable, better, more beautiful.

The key (I hope) is that no matter what, you don't give up on what you want to
do. As I age, I'm getting more comfortable with that.

~~~
reledi
> living in the CS department

How'd you manage to do that?

~~~
mathgladiator
I was a GTA, and I lived in one of the small compute labs at k-state.
Sometimes in my car. Sometimes, I'd go out to fields (deer can be pricks btw)
and just sleep under the stars. Or, I'd go up the roof (usually locked, but
not always).

~~~
reledi
Sounds like a life changing experience. Any specific memories that stand out?

------
freshlog
May I suggest that you try approaching your ideas from a slightly different
perspective: pick those that stem from a personal pain point, that way, you'll
be personally vested.

Whilst it's exciting to come up with novel ideas, nothing's more spurring than
fixing and making your own life better.

To illustrate, here are some projects that I've embarked on, which scratched a
personal pain point and went on to be _incidentally_ well liked by others
enough to even pay for:

<http://freshlog.com>

I had to submit bug reports with attached screenshots in Basecamp (later
Pivotal Tracker and Fogbugz), which involves many steps, so I made this.

<http://screendocs.com>

Customers were frequently asking how to do something and nothing beats sharing
a webpage with step-by-step screenshots. Later I found Dropbox to be a great
medium so I integrated with that.

<http://handpick.me>

I felt that Facebook was a little too noisy and public to share personal links
with my family and friends, so I made this.

<http://letsrecap.com>

Whilst reading long articles, I'd want to select some text, mark it out and
jump back between them easily.

Whilst these are not runway successes with millions of dollars of profit, it
certainly helps you build up the stamina to successfully ship and launch
projects.

~~~
jaysonelliot
I just wanted to give you a high five for the photo of the Squishable T-Rex
that thanked me for requesting a Recap beta invite.

You made my fiancee squeal with joy.

~~~
freshlog
^5!

Lol, I got it for my wife, she loved it too!

------
msutherl
I believe that this sort of sentiment is a symptom of not having answered for
yourself the question: "what makes a good life good". _spking_ is likely
operating on a temporary definition imparted by his upbringing that goes
something like this:

    
    
      "a good life is a life which, when seen from afar, appears to include a string 
       of successful and well-respected achievements, each one better than the last".
    

This perspective is, according to some of my friends from other continents,
very "American".

An alternative definition that is more conducive to well-being _and_
productivity is one in which your subjective experience of life is considered
more important than your life as seen and judged from afar (i.e. by others).
To build such a definition, you must first analyze and become aware of how
most decisions that you make are made with respect to how they are perceived
from afar. Once you see this, you must realize that you are simply mistaken in
privileging this perspective. How other people (and systems) judge what you do
should only be of consequence to you to the extent that it impacts your life
concretely. These judgements have no intrinsic meaning. For instance, _spking_
's post is lamenting a self-inflicted anxiety about how his life appears from
an external perspective. He does not mention how his failure concretely
impacts his life, only how it impacts his feelings (which are based on his
unconsidered and ultimately mislead beliefs).

Following the recognition of this, you can then begin to make sense of the
question: "what makes a good life good?" A good life is not a life that
_appears_ good, it is a life that, to you, _feels_ good (i.e., you may remark
"life is good"). So, to answer this question, you can begin by finding out
what activities, situations and dispositions lead you to this sort of feeling
(i.e. things you enjoy). You can then re-structure your life so as to maximize
these things (rather than structuring it around only externally visible
achievements).

(A quick hint: more than 50% of these things have to do with your past, your
friends, your family, significant others, significant locations, food, music,
art, etc. You have a career and you do projects in large part to support these
things. Taking a vacation and doing psychedelic drugs are two great ways to
remind yourself of this.)

That said, _spking_ 's projects are failing for a simple reason. What he truly
desires is not for his projects to succeed, but to _connect with people_
through his projects. The solution to this problem is to first focus on making
a connection as soon as possible. A successful idea is one which takes a life
of its own before you get bored of it. In the case of websites, people must
begin using your project before you feel the desire to give up. Given this
insight, it is best to start with a simple idea that can be deployed in a
useful form quickly. Once a platform has been established – ideally with money
coming in – more complex projects can be executed within that framework (if
you're lucky, with the help of friends and investors)!

~~~
3am
I'm happy that you said this so eloquently. Accomplishment and fulfillment are
not the same. I had a little draft of a response (which I won't post, because
you cover everything better) and it included Van Gogh's last words, "The
sadness will last forever". Clearly this great artist was not fulfilled,
sadly.

I also wanted to add that the impulse to create 'amazing art' perplexes me.
The best anyone can do is to create art. 'Amazing' pertains to peoples'
perception of the art. There is a short but very good part of Vonnegut's
Timequake where he discusses this with his brother Bernard that may be
relevant
([http://books.google.com/books?id=cr93q_HVXb0C&pg=PA165#v...](http://books.google.com/books?id=cr93q_HVXb0C&pg=PA165#v=onepage&q&f=false)
\- chapter 43, though pg 166 is unfortunately not available. "I like what
Mozart did, and I hate what the bucket did")

------
ctdonath
I'm 44 today. I'm both sympathetic and dismissal of the author's plight.

Comes down to one thing: PICK SOMETHING AND DO IT.

And don't put off marriage.

~~~
davidhansen
_And don't put off marriage._

Why not? Elucidation on this point would be appreciated.

~~~
ed209
I would interpret it as "don't put your life on hold". Life is all relative,
so when you compare stuff, you compare it to what you know. Getting married
and having my daughter (currently 1yr) has given me something amazing to
compare everything else I do to.

So, I'm still just as hungry to create "the next big thing" but if it doesn't
happen, fine, I already got the top prize.

I guess the irony is that my pursuit of "the next big thing" is so that one
day I can spend more time with my wife and daughter, but actually it's
currently having the exact opposite effect...

------
philjackson
Have you thought about finding a co-founder?

edit: I'm being voted down? I was dead serious, a co-founder could help keep
him on track, as could he them.

~~~
mechanical_fish
Perhaps someone was reacting to the fact that your original comment is such a
truism on HN that it could have been written by the legendary PGbot? ;)

But that judgement is unfair, because one of the characteristics of a truism
is that it's often true.

------
blhack
Alan watts has something important to say about this...

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERbvKrH-GC4>

You haven't been failing, you've been dancing. This is the point. Enjoy it and
stop waiting for the payoff.

------
OoTheNigerian
I turn 29 in a few weeks. When I turned 27 I wrote a post similar to yours
[http://oonwoye.com/2010/01/12/a-birthday-rant-why-i-feel-
too...](http://oonwoye.com/2010/01/12/a-birthday-rant-why-i-feel-too-old-
at-27/). I planned to go full throttle with my startup that year. However,
some circumstances made me leave the startup. I am just getting back on track.

Here is what has made me move so fast and stay focused in the past 2 months. I
struck myself a deal. If I do not launch anything, I will not blog, Tweet or
Facebook. Things I loved doing but gave me room for distraction. I suggest you
do same.

Next year is my last year at doing something great "in my twenties" it is so
symbolic for me. So I hope that my efforts will pay off this coming year.

I leave you with this quote.

"The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago, the second best time is NOW"

------
keiferski
Luckily, business isn't a field where only the young make an impact: Colonel
Sanders started KFC at 65, Henry Ford started Ford Motor Company at 34...most
entrepreneurs aren't 25.

Also, consider architecture: most architects don't hit their prime until 50.
But yeah, life is short, so don't waste too much time.

~~~
ams6110
Outside of tech, most people aren't even taken seriously until they are at
least 40. It's a cliche but actually quite true.

------
dbattaglia
I'm turning 32 in March and I gotta say it's been all uphill the last 2 years.
Trust me it really means nothing, don't let a number scare you.

When I was in my late teens/20s I was way into the electronica act Underworld.
I remember reading how their 20s/30s were spent doing a failed synth pop act
(Fruer I think the name was). I son't think they wrote that classic
Trainspoyting track "Born Slippy") until they were in their 40s. Maybe it
sounds silly but that always stuck with me. I think the current tech startup
scene puts an emphasis on youth that is turning into vanity a little. Don't
let it get you down.. negative thoughts and fear are infinitely more crippling
than any birthday. Keep it up and focus!

------
felipemnoa
>>Today I need to get serious. No, drastic. Like a heroin addict going to
rehab. This is my intervention. No more new ideas, no more domain names, no
more client work, no more hypotheticals, no more I’ll do it tomorrow, no more
wasted time. ”By the way, what have you ever done that’s so great?” I’ll have
to get back to you. <<

You can still have lots of new ideas but no matter how many ideas you have you
should have one and only one project that you are committed to at a time and
make sure you finish it no matter how long it takes.

One must realize that most ideas have a very similar chance of succeeding
(slim to none) no matter how great they may seem at first and that one of the
best ways to increase the chances for an idea to succeed is to commit to it.

Meanwhile, while you are working on your main idea you will probably realize
that a lot of the pieces you are building (at least in software) you will be
able to re-use for some of your other ideas.

------
egypturnash
Frank Herbert was born in 1920. It took him five years to research and write
his second published novel; it was first published as a serial in 1963.

That book was called "Dune".

You do the math.

\----

When I was 25 I moved out to California to attend animation school. When I was
30 I'd been a part of the first wave of dotcom boom funded Internet cartoons,
watched some of my colleagues go in to TV work, and burnt out. When I was 36 I
drew a Tarot deck[1]. The year I hit 40, it got published internationally. I
think it's adequate. Some people react to it a lot more strongly than that.

Success at 25 is the exception, not the rule. Very few people are that driven.
Many more labor under others for a time, slowly honing their craft until they
make something amazing. Learning to identify the ideas worth focusing on for a
whole year is an important, subtle skill.

[1] <http://egypt.urnash.com/tarot/>

------
x3c
I dont know how much this applies to the author but I often feel like it hits
home for me:

“Most people would succeed in small things if they were not troubled with
great ambitions.” -Henry Wadsworth

By that, I dont mean that you should have no ambitions, just dont get troubled
by it. What I mean is, dont postpone your today's work for what you may want
to work on tomorrow. Finish the small things before dreaming of the next big
thing. Small things like your current job, your social obligations, your
relaxation time and the time to hone your skills.

Manage your time better, every minute you can spare, invest it in your future.
You won't have to go looking for inspiration, mundane things can be a great
catalyst for radical/new ideas. You'll have your moment, just gain enough
discipline and build a secure nest egg; so when your moment comes, you'll be
prepared to take the leap.

All the best.

[Edit: pretty printing]

------
toddmorey
"If you hear a voice within you saying, 'You are not a painter,' then by all
means paint and that voice will be silenced." -- Vincent Van Gogh

~~~
gruseom
Van Gogh was 30 when he wrote that in a letter to Theo. That was two years
before he painted his first major painting and several more before he did
anything most of us would recognize as van Gogh.

<http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let400/letter.html>

(That website is a mammoth undertaking. Too bad the translations I've seen
there are awful. They're scholarly, but read like wrung-out dishrags.)

Here's some more van Gogh (<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Vincent_van_Gogh>):

 _I tell you, if one wants to be active, one must not be afraid of going
wrong, one must not be afraid of making mistakes now and then. Many people
think that they will become good just by doing no harm — but that's a lie, and
you yourself used to call it that. That way lies stagnation, mediocrity. Just
slap anything on when you see a blank canvas staring you in the face like some
imbecile. You don't know how paralyzing that is, that stare of a blank canvas
is, which says to the painter, You can't do a thing. The canvas has an idiotic
stare and mesmerises some painters so much that they turn into idiots
themselves. Many painters are afraid in front of the blank canvas, but the
blank canvas is afraid of the real, passionate painter who dares and who has
broken the spell of 'you can't' once and for all. Life itself, too, is forever
turning an infinitely vacant, dispiriting blank side towards man on which
nothing appears, any more than it does on a blank canvas. But no matter how
vacant and vain, how dead life may appear to be, the man of faith, of energy,
of warmth, who knows something, will not be put off so easily. He wades in and
does something and stays with it, in short, he violates, "defiles" — they
say._

And some more:

 _What am I in the eyes of most people — a nonentity, an eccentric, or an
unpleasant person — somebody who has no position in society and will never
have; in short, the lowest of the low. All right, then — even if that were
absolutely true, then I should one day like to show by my work what such an
eccentric, such a nobody, has in his heart. That is my ambition, based less on
resentment than on love in spite of everything, based more on a feeling of
serenity than on passion. Though I am often in the depths of misery, there is
still calmness, pure harmony and music inside me._

And here is something that speaks to the struggle of the OP:

 _There is a great difference between one idler and another idler. There is
someone who is an idler out of laziness and lack of character, owing to the
baseness of his nature. If you like, you may take me for one of those. Then
there is the other kind of idler, the idler despite himself, who is inwardly
consumed by a great longing for action who does nothing because his hands are
tied, because he is, so to speak, imprisoned somewhere, because he lacks what
he needs to be productive, because disastrous circumstances have brought him
forcibly to this end. Such a one does not always know what he can do, but he
nevertheless instinctively feels, I am good for something! My existence is not
without reason! I know that I could be a quite a different person! How can I
be of use, how can I be of service? There is something inside me, but what can
it be? He is quite another idler. If you like you may take me for one of
those._

~~~
toddmorey
Those are fantastic quotes, some of which I'd never seen before. Thanks for
sharing them.

------
sporkologist
Carl Friedrich Gauss and Richard Feynman both did great stuff until they were
old. I knew from an early age that I would probably not even know what would
be my career until I was at least 40, and learned the basics of art, math,
computers, and music from about 10 to the present day, to be prepared (didn't
know what for exactly). So now I'm 47 and making sax mouthpieces (I'm in the
very center of my target market). I'm not sure what my point is with all this,
but I guess what I'm saying is, just try a lot of stuff and eventually you
will find that there is a demand for what you love to do. And make sure you
maintain food and shelter.

------
kenjackson
There's been reserach looking at the age of which great science occurs and in
more established fields it happens later in life.

At age 30 you're just getting started.

[http://www.laboratory-journal.com/news/scientific-
news/study...](http://www.laboratory-journal.com/news/scientific-news/study-
finds-breakthrough-scientific-discoveries-no-longer-dominated-very-young)

------
AznHisoka
For your next idea, follow the lean startup principle. It not only works in
terms of results, but it works from a morale point of view. When you got
people telling you they can't wait for the app to be released, it gives you
motivation to push forward. It's an antidote against self doubt, and wondering
whether you're just crazy. Start a mailing list, and immediately get email
addresses of people who want to hear when the app will be released. Hire a
designer, and have him/her design the homepage so you got something impressive
to look at. Something you can point at and say.. "This is what my idea is
gonna look like".

------
andrewfelix
My Father didn't get his degree until he was thirty. That was over 20 years
ago.

Today he gets an invitation to travel overseas every two weeks to help
teachers teach English. He educates, runs a multi-million dollar business, has
3 successful children and 2 healthy grand children.

You have a lot more to look forward to. Enjoy the first day of the rest of
your life.

------
wensing
I got married at 21, had my first child (of 4) at 21, and had the idea for
Stormpulse at 23. I've now worked on it for 7 years and turned 30 last month.
I feel like I've accomplished a lot in terms of having a very full home life
and a very interesting project, but I still feel a lack in terms of having
things "solved"--Stormpulse is just now finding its legs and I'm nowhere near
being the father or husband I hope to become. I think I assumed I'd have these
things more figured out by now, so I can relate. But I remain confident that
each year holds better things than the last.

~~~
count
If it's any consolation to you, Stormpulse is basically the only place I go
for Hurricane updates now!

------
nashequilibrium
" I read stuff like “it’s rare that you see an artist in his 30s or 40s able
to really contribute something amazing” from Steve Jobs, and it has the
uncomfortable effect of simultaneously depressing me and jolting me with a
sense of panic."

I tend to disagree a bit with this quote. This article called 'late bloomers'
explains most of my reasoning:
[http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/10/20/081020fa_fact_...](http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/10/20/081020fa_fact_gladwell)

------
kevinalexbrown
Most nobel prize winners, even in theoretical physics, _do their nobel-winning
work after 40_ [1] So don't worry about that.

Also: focus on doing what you love, not doing great things. Trying to do
things just because everyone else thinks they're great just makes you a real-
life karma whore.

[1]
[http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=age...](http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=age-
for-nobel-winning-work-rises-11-11-08)

------
alexwolfe
You don't need to do something unbelievable to be great. Don't let yourself
get into this mindset that you need to keep up with the Joneses. Do something
that makes you happy, that is the real measure of success.

The reality is that no matter what you do, even if you do it great there will
always be someone better. So you have to do something because you get
enjoyment out of it not because your peers approve or because it might garner
some praise for a few minutes.

You're young. Yes you are. 30 is a great place to be and for most people the
real beginning of their careers.

If you have your heart set on building something cool/useful/etc then you just
need to focus (don't beat yourself up), just focus. Look at the list of things
you have and pick 1. Don't do any other projects (other than work of course)
until you finish. You'll find that in a year from now you'll have plenty to be
proud of and that's not bad for a 31 year old.

Good luck.

PS. I found this article very helpful when I've had these same thoughts:
[http://techcrunch.com/2011/12/03/how-entrepreneurs-can-
incre...](http://techcrunch.com/2011/12/03/how-entrepreneurs-can-increase-
productivity-by-500/)

------
halayli
Here's my take:

1\. Instead of focusing on the idea, focus on the execution.

2\. Pick a niche that has a relatively easy entry, and create something better
and/or cheaper. Perfect your execution so that your product becomes the
obvious choice in the market.

3\. Get into an already proven market instead of trying to prove your idea and
chase it.

4\. Don't expect you'll be alone in any market, you always have competitors.
Wherever there is money, there is a competitor.

5\. Stay away from highly competitive markets.

6\. Whatever you choose, make sure to answer these questions first: "Who's my
audience?", and more importantly "How can I reach them". Because whatever you
create, if it's hard to reach your audience then your audience won't know
about you. Personally, I'd pick a market where I can reach its audience via
online advertising, this way my success is not dependent on the media talking
about my product and spreading the word.

7\. Stay away from ideas/markets that requires virility. Those markets are
very difficult to enter.

------
dasil003
Maybe it's all true, but there are many ways to look at things in life, and I
think the OA is just being too hard on himself.

Look around. Most people never create much of anything. It's easy to focus on
"great art" that the Internet shoves in front of us and be demoralized. Our
brains just aren't designed for the kind of sensory overload that we
experience today, and even the greatest artist would feel belittled by the
scope of what is at our fingertips today.

But if your goal is to create great art, then first you must dedicate yourself
to just creating art. It doesn't matter if these attempts are abortive, so
long as you keep doing it. Just keep honing your craft. This is the only hope
of ever creating anything great. It's not a guarantee, but if you give it your
all then you should be proud. Reflecting honestly on the past is useful for
course correction, but beating yourself up never helps.

------
j45
That's 99.99999% of the world too. It's okay. Create. Create. Create. Paint
for the love of painting. An artist creates art for art's sake. Keep creating
and FINISHING.

P.S. I counted the 9's :)

------
waterlesscloud
I'm 43. I've produced nothing great. But I'm still working at it. And I'm
having a lot of fun along the way.

I'll get there or I won't, but I'm enjoying the ride.

------
tsunamifury
I think the author is conflating two issues here

1 A sense that he does not finish things

2 That he should be further along in life

The second is nonsense as there is no set point where anyone should 'be' in
life. Some contribute early, some late, some after they are dead!

The first is a real problem, one I've struggled with. The way I've attempted
to overcome it is, when I got my next idea I wanted to try out I told myself
the goal wasn't to be successful, rather it was to finish. I wanted to see
something done and launched no matter how terrible I felt it was.

I found that overcoming the initial abandonment period required two things

1 a partner

2 skin in the game

With your next great idea, I'd advise you prioritize finishing it and invest
in the above two points to get you there.

------
jfoster
I used to have this affliction, but it's reasonably easy to overcome once you
realize that you've got it. You just have to pick an idea and not shift
attention to anything else until you've followed it through to some kind of
conclusion.

------
peterwwillis
Stop trying to force yourself to come up with ideas and just live your life.
Nothing in life is so serious that you should be sweating yourself over it,
save maybe an incurable disease (which you can't cure so again, don't sweat
it).

------
ChuckMcM
The sad thing is, you tell someone "Someday you're going to suddenly wake up
and realize that 10 years of your life has gone by and you've not done
_anything_ you wanted to do." And at the front side of those 10 years its
really hard for them to hear, at the back side its catastrophically depressing
for some.

It is the essence of the mantra "You are going to be dead a year from now, so
put your affairs in order." kind of motivation that folks use to force them to
finish things they start. Life _is_ the journey, at some unpredictable time
the journey stops.

------
there
at least for me, an idea dies quicker when i never tell anyone about it. if i
show a working example to someone or even just talk about the idea, there's a
sense of wanting to complete it just to show that person even if he or she
never asks me about it again. if i keep ideas to myself and they stall out
halfway through, i won't look like i never finished them because nobody knew i
started. i realized this years ago and is unfortunately why i rarely tell
people about my ideas now until i at least have something to show.

there are a lot of "show hn" posts on the /newest page that never even get an
upvote and then roll off the page without any discussion. even if they make
the front page, they stick around for a day and then we never hear about them
again.

maybe if there were a dedicated place to post those early-stage ideas, whether
they are just paragraphs explaining the ideas or links to fully-functioning
websites, and they were visible for longer than a day, it would provide
motivation for others to complete their projects. like forrst.com but less
focused on design projects. perhaps this would be better suited as a forum,
where one can maintain one long-running thread per idea and update it over
time, allowing others to give feedback on it. i've seen this on car forums
where someone will have a thread spanning over a year, updating it every week
as they build a new car or something. the navigation would need some
improvement over a standard forum, but it could work.

i'd be happy to build and host such a thing.

------
jscore
32 here.

1\. You finished this blog post, so you know how to finish things.

2\. Turn off all mindless distractions for a month or more (fb, twitter,
forums, even hn) so you can figure out something important that you can focus
on. You've read enough and don't need to keep reading more motivational
material.

3\. Start a small project and finish it. This would help you to convince
yourself that you can complete shit.

4\. Use that feedback loop to continue building bigger projects.

5\. Life IS really that short so learn to live in the moment (I've been there
but am getting a bit better with this).

------
tlammens
Now try to do something for your friends/family, make them happy. Maybe that
matters more in the end.

------
tmroyal
This reminds me of that article by Malcolm Gladwell about Cézanne and Picasso.
Picasso is depicted as the visionary who revolutionizes artistic expression in
his teens and Cézanne is a painter who struggles his entire life and doesn't
achieve a breakthrough until he is much older. It might provide context to a
discussion like this:

<http://www.gladwell.com/2008/2008_10_20_a_latebloomers.html>

Yet, I wonder if achievement is evenly distributed across the range of all
ages, and what is not evenly distributed are mentions of the achiever's age
when mentioning her or his achievement. If artist A revolutionizes the art
world at the age of 23 and artist B does so at the age of 60, would it not be
more likely to see when the respective artists achievements are mentioned?
i.e.:

Artist A revolutionized the art world and he did so at the age of 23

Artist B revolutionized the art world.

Anyway, the statement "I'm 30 and haven't done anything, so I won't" is based
on a number normative assumptions. Not everyone is 30 finds herself in the
same set of circumstances. Further, normativity is antithetical to creation,
so a sentiment behind this post is contradictory.

Ultimately, the answer is to have ideas that are easy to follow through but
are not obvious. That's how you look like a prodigy, i think.

~~~
TheCowboy
The younger a person is who experiences success, the more likely it will be
emphasized and repeatedly mentioned for various reasons.

No one usually cares about the ages of people who succeed after their youth.

------
foxylad
Get real. I'm going to sound harsh, but if you're choosing to spend time
angsting about this, you're probably better working for someone else than
yourself. You aren't making good decisions on how to spend your time, which
means you will be badly handicapped in any venture that you control.

If you want to prove me wrong, get hungry. Put all your money less enough to
pay rent, expenses and ramen for six months into a long term savings account
that you can't touch for a year. So in six months, you are going to be
starving, out on the street, and your smartphone will be repossessed... unless
you perform.

Whoa... OK, lets analyse all these amazing ideas. Ask female friends which
ones have legs, work out which one is most likely to start earning you enough
money to keep you off the street in six months. Forget trying to raise venture
capital - if you can't show revenue they won't be interested, if you can show
revenue you don't need them anyway.

Then get to it. By now you only have 5.5 months left to build this darn thing,
5.5 months before you starve. Design, code, network all hours of the day and
night. Phone every new customer and ask them what they like and don't like
about the product. Every thing you do, you ask "is this helping me build
revenue?" before you spend a second doing it. Lying in bed before you go to
sleep, you're figuring out how to do some A/B testing to improve signup rates,
not worrying about whether you're too old to produce amazing art.

Then six months is up. You have enough revenue coming in to pay for the next
month's rent, expenses and ramen - congratulations. Or you've learned that
even with your best idea and effort, you couldn't make ends meet. You get
regular job, and make a difference to the world that way.

Good luck to you, and if anything I've said helps at all, let me know how you
go.

------
dariencrane
Realize that the amount of "art" you've created is altogether meaningless if
you have a shallow experience of life. Let your self-esteem become unhinged
from what you perceive as success, and just enjoy your time. If you have a
single creative bone in your body you will create something amazing in due
time. I recommend reading Siddhartha again and then getting back to work!

------
plasma
I find myself constantly writing down ideas in a notepad/phone/document.

Many of them are simple, one liners to remember the idea.

Others have expanded (even on my phone) into multi-page ideas, features,
things to consider.

That helps me write down things to work on at a later date.

I let the idea bake for a moment and when I'm really passionate about it I
will give it a go.

Each failure though helps me realise what to look out for next time.

For example, like you, I also run out of momentum.

You need to pick projects that are _achievable_ in a few months (especially
when you're putting in after-hours work, and it isn't your day job) to avoid
picking up a project too big for the amount of time you can afford.

I still write down those huge ideas, who knows if I will ever do them, but I
don't pick them up (or totally forget them, either) because they are too much
work to do right now.

Pick the projects that sound good (and cut feature's you don't really need for
launch), do it incrementally, even with a friend if that helps you stay on
track, and make sure it's something you can do in a reasonably short amount of
time.

------
ivan_ah
Ze Frank said: ideas = "brain crack"

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24prm3XjVgk>

------
ccarpenterg
The probability of success (ie: creating a startup and selling it for 100
millions) is conditioned by two major factors: (a) a good idea (and the right
implementation) and (b) the preparation of yourself.

So rather than trying to get the next big idea instead work on solving
interesting problems and improve your skills and capacities. And take some
risk!

------
jeffool
I know the feeling. I'm 31 and beyond the middleground of fruitless endeavors
to the point that so many things that I've felt should've been "what I put my
life into" have turned out bad. And I'm not even a developer! (That was one of
them, hello student loan.) But, you got to keep going. What else are you going
to do, y'know?

Best of luck to you, sir.

------
danielcrenna
I wrote a little response for you, which I hope will help in some small way.
You're a really brave dude, and you're clearly not alone.
([http://danielcrenna.com/post/14394588037/code-
soloist-19-int...](http://danielcrenna.com/post/14394588037/code-
soloist-19-interventions))

------
uptown
I just turned 35, and have a very similar story. One thing I've found that
helps is to start talking about your ideas with others. Not only does it give
you insight into how others perceive your ideas and potentially help improve
the concept, but it also gives you a certain amount peer motivation from
friends and family to follow up on your progress. If they won't naturally do
this, ask them to ... tell em it'll help you stay motivated, and ask whether
you can follow up in a few weeks/months/whatever to show them what you've
accomplished.

Ultimately, the message I needed to get into my own head was that nobody was
going to build my idea for me ... so if I wanted to see it as something more
than a Photoshop mockup, I just needed to break it into pieces, and start
knocking them down.

------
hpexin
I think being involved or attached in such an inspiring community is really
important. True, too many people out there have never ever dreamed of creating
anything. However, here, after reading so many articles about the passion to
invent, I am too influenced to do something.

------
lucidrains
Ambition isn't everything to life. Being kind to others, surrounding yourself
with friends and family, and seeking out new and fun experiences are all
important and more permanent for your happiness.

However, if you have truly figured yourself out and creating something is
vital to your happiness (which is probably true given you are on ycombinator),
by golly, understand yourself and reengineer your environment so that you can
realize your full potential.

Our society is kind of structured so you are thrown into a pipeline to water
and tend to dreams that have already taken root; so if you want to realize
your own dream, you need to really step outside the box and plant your own
seeds.

My 2 cents...

------
mkr-hn
People who say they've never seen anyone do y after x didn't look hard enough.
You'll live longer if you stop stressing over arbitrary points on an imaginary
curve and focus on the long journey ahead of you and all the potential it
offers.

------
Spearchucker
I find this thread fascinating. In over 20 years in the formal IT sector I've
had one idea, and have stuck with that single idea for seven years.

It started with frustration at a piece of software I was using on my phone at
the time (a Nokia 9210 Communicator), and has since been influenced by books
I've read and other apps I've used. I quit my job at Microsoft in September
last year to work on it full time.

Granted, over the years I've had a few more ideas - most of them spin-offs of
the framework I created, but all have been put on hold until I can ship v.1 of
the current idea.

I guess it's just another example my tendency to assume that eveyone else
thinks like I do.

------
yungchin
"No more new ideas, no more domain names, ..."

That sounds counter-productive. If you need good ideas, you better allow
yourself to keep the ideas flowing (I suppose I believe there's something
random about the quality of ideas, so to have a good one, you need to allow
lots of 'em).

What might be interesting is to look into something called "mental
contrasting": it says you shouldn't just revel in a new idea, because
envisioning the outcome gives you a good part of the gratification of actually
achieving it. Instead, you should still allow yourself the envisioning, but
afterwards contrast that with how far you are now.

------
philwelch
Web apps aren't art. Startups aren't art. Almost no one under 30 starts a
successful business, and almost no one over 30 starts a successful business
either, though the >30 group does have an advantage. So use it.

------
spking
OP here. I want to express my gratitude for all of the great comments. There's
a lot of wisdom and insight here, and it's comforting to know that I'm not the
only one who feels (or has felt) this way.

------
politician
Rather than agreeing with everyone else in this thread (I do), let me ask a
serious question. Does anyone think Adderall would help? Focus on one idea,
that is. I find myself thinking it would.

------
pacomerh
One common problem developers have is that they try to do everything
themselves and they have too many projects in their head, so just make an
effort and forget about the other ones that won't happen anyways. Get one good
project and divide it in really really easy tasks, and when you finish each
part enjoy the success and move on slowly, it's better to move slow and fnish
than moving fast and not go anywhere. My grandmother used to tell me "Don't
rush, I'm in a hurry", wise words.

------
erichocean
The drive that compelled you to write this blog post is the same drive that
will, when the time comes, kick you off your ass to actually get stuff done.

And it'll be awesome.

tl;dr You're doing it right.

------
CrazyInu
Maybe people don't produce art after 30 of 40, but there are hundreds of
millionaires and billionaires who made their riches in their 50s, 60s, and
70s.

~~~
kevin_morrill
Frank Lloyd Wright was considered washed up and done in his 30s after a
successful period. Most of his greatest works came late in his life. The
Guggenheim museum, just as an example, was designed just before his death.

Ray Kroc was already in his 50s when he bought out McDonalds and turned it
into the success we know of now.

The point of seizing the moment is to make the most of right now, not make you
feel guilty about the past.

------
gavanwoolery
In all seriousness, there is a slim chance that you have bipolar disorder.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bipolar_disorder>

Or not. Never try to self-diagnose or self-medicate - seek professional help
if you think this is the case.

I am the same way - I have many (failed) ideas, and an obsession with creating
new ones, although fortunately I do not carry the aforementioned disorder :)

~~~
gavanwoolery
Also, the road to success is paved with failures. It is better to fail many
times fast than continue working on an idea that is bound to be a failure.
With every failure, you learn better how not to fail.

The cure I found for manic idea creation: work on something that you are
really, really interested in. I have been working for the same idea for almost
8 years, on and off - the only problem is that I keep scrapping, rebuilding,
and rethinking it :)

------
jimmyxt
Great to read its not just me!

There is hope, I'm now 4 months into a startup which is my best commitment
yet. The key difference for me: Involve other people. Firstly working in a
team makes me more accountable. Second, having users sign up and use it really
motivates me.

Not that its easy, its still hard at times. Which is fantastic because it
means Im outside my comfort zone and getting some much needed personal growth.

------
kloc
I turned 30 today and this is the top post on HN (wow).Everything the OP says
applies to me too.Its high time we become doers from thinkers.

------
buro9
The difference between 29 and 30 is one day.

If one day is all the difference in the world and the source of so much
personal stress about what you've achieved, then ask yourself:

 _What did you do today?_

If every day you do something, then one day you will find that you have
achieved things that once seemed like a leap, but viewed from day by day were
never more than the smallest increments over the day before.

------
ww520
This has struck a chord with me. New ideas are so addictive, but getting down
to business to get one done takes a lot of effort. Sigh.

------
riledhel
This has turned to be one of the most interesting conversations on HN in the
past month, at least for me. It made my day and I wanted to thank everyone for
sharing their two cents. As someone approaching 30 in a couple of years this
reflected some of my feelings about work and life. Gladly I walk out today
having learned something about life.

------
larve
i think that the personal value of art is making it and the importance it has
to you. you can't hand down the judgment of how "good" your art is to somebody
else, or in fact judge it at all. the only thing it will lead to is making
yourself feel bad. the beauty is in making, not wanting.

------
theviciousfish
art has nothing to do with money. The only thing you can do, is find what you
love. Once you do that, you practice. You practice every day until your hands
bleed, but you don't care, because you love it. Loving something is not
instantaneous, it is a combination of chance itself, and a decision to make a
commitment to being better at what you do than anyone else. Once you have
enough practice, inspiration is inevitable. The problem is, if you are focused
on money, you are likely to give up on practice for the sake of practice, and
you will be too busy trying to make a buck that true inspiration will pass you
by.

Inspiration is a subtle force, and retreats in the face of greed.

------
1point2
This seems applicable for the 30 year old person to read:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3365933>

------
zobzu
Like million of humans. Congrats. It.does.not.matter. :-)

------
alexkearns
My advice on completing projects:

Developing a big web project can be a bit like running a marathon badly. You
put on a giant chicken outfit. Run around trying to trip over celebrities for
the cameras. And nearly die of a heart attack. Okay, maybe that's just me. No,
seriously, let me start again. Developing a big... bit like... running a
marathon. You are full of energy at the start and set off at a frantic pace.
Before you know it, you have the concept design and prototype done. Then you
begin to start on the database hierarchy, the sign up forms. This is tiring
work and soon your pace begins to slow. But you are still excited by the
project so you push on.

There comes a point however on most large projects - usually around two-thirds
to completion - when your enthusiasm begins to wane. You look into the
distance and cannot see the end in sight. There is so much work to do and this
work is the boring detailed stuff rather than fun conceptual work. You begin
to wonder if the project is any good. You begin to get distracted by Facebook,
Hacker News, flash backs of the mangled dying Action Man you threw out of the
window with only a paper bag as a parachute when you were a kid (Okay, that's
just me again). In short, you are flagging and unless you pick yourself up
soon you will be retiring from this race.

NEVER GIVE IN This is usually when a good manager will step in and give his
team of developers a good motivational talk (or a kick up the butt). But when
you are working on your own projects as part of a startup, when you ARE your
own manager, inviting yourself into your own office for a motivational talk
does not usually do much good and could easily get you taken away by men in
white coats (for me, writing this from Bradlington Mental Asylum, this is no
longer a problem). It is easy to give up at this stage. So how do you motivate
yourself in such a situation? How do you pick yourself up from the road, and
crawl, if necessary, crawl, crawl, until bloodied and weeping, you inch over
the finishing line on your stomach, a slimey trail of your inards in your wake
(sorry, more flashbacks. My teddy this time. Tug of war with sis. Big Ted
never was the same again). Yes, how do you do this...

Stop looking at me. Like, I have the slightest clue. What, you were expecting
- because you had invested the time to read this far - that I magically would
have the answer to one of the most intractable questions in software
development - nay, in human psychology: how to motivate yourself and others.
Or maybe, if you hadn't quite got the gist of this article, you were wondering
how I could help you finish a marathon when, two thirds of the way through,
your legs are buckling like a soldier who has taken one direct to the head. To
the latter, I've heard that energy drinks are pretty good. Else, take a bus -
nobody will probably notice and the money is only going to charity anyway.
Later, you might want to invest in some smart drugs...

As for the former, get out of here - there's only one way you are going to
finish your project, and that is by doing it. So stop reading frivilous
articles like this, and get down to some serious coding.

------
nikcub
let all the domain names go so that other people can use them (same of anybody
else who is hoarding domain names)

setup a site to give them away or to sell them (theres an idea!)

------
ofca
hell. I have the same feeling and I am only 23...

------
DodgyEggplant
yeah, well make sure that you will not repeat this statement turning 31. go go
go.

------
adrianbye
this isn't a big deal. just study project management and get really good at
it. you'll learn how to execute well on projects and find yourself getting
things completed

------
njharman
That is ok.

------
billpatrianakos
As a recovering heroin addict (3 years sober) and a programmer I can say his
metaphor is right on. I'm approaching 30 soon too and I get what he's saying.
You buy some domain and a VPS for some awesome idea you're going to launch and
then between your client work and running your own business all of the sudden
everything falls apart.

I think the problem is working on too many projects at once. It can be close
to impossible to keep track of your clients and 5 of your own projects all at
once. I know that when I start a project I need to focus on it all the way or
I lose steam. You get in the zone, you're familiar with all the inner workings
and you're able to be productive. If you try to switch to a different project,
especially if it's a half finished one, you have a hard time getting
comfortable again. You end up having to relearn the code (in a way) and get
into that different flow the other project had.

Also, every project has a personality. At least in my mind. It's hard to
switch between projects with different "personalities" because there a lot of
mental strain involved in making that transition to, say, a straight laced
organization web app and a fun and exciting social network for just you and
_your_ friends.

Then there's always that temptation to learn some new technology, rent a
dedicated server or get a VPS so you can be in total control and that's just
sexy. I know I get a nerd boner whenever I get a new Linode and start setting
it up exactly how I like it. The decisions that come with all of this setup
and execution can lead to analysis paralysis.

------
paulhauggis
I've had this same problem and I finally put a stop to it this year. I
actually took one of my abandoned projects and used the code for a new
venture.

I always had this problem when I worked a corporate job. Mostly because I
wasn't hungry for success. I always had that steady paycheck coming in and I
could abandon my new project when I ran into the slightest difficulty.

I quit last year with 2+ years salary and I've been working on the same two
projects since.

------
zotz
Being an artist and musician, I'm a little disturbed at businessmen thinking
they're producing art.

~~~
benmathes
Art is an extremely general and subjective term. I have seen code that is
artful. I have seen paintings that are artful. No artist can lay claim to what
is art in a field they may be unfamiliar with.

~~~
zotz
I've seen code that's poetic and artful. Computer science, like any science,
has artistic elements to it, especially when economy of motion is utilized.

Money isn't art. To quote Robert Graves: "If there's no money in poetry,
neither is there poetry in money."

~~~
count
Creation of anything can be artistic. It can also be mundane.

