
On being a bit of an idiot - danw
http://www.oblomovka.com/wp/2008/08/20/on-being-a-bit-of-an-idiot/
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swombat
My first article on my blog was actually on a similar concept:

[http://inter-sections.net/2007/09/05/it-
doesn%E2%80%99t-matt...](http://inter-sections.net/2007/09/05/it-
doesn%E2%80%99t-matter-where-you-start)

The key ideas is: so long as you learn from your mistake and you have a way of
gathering criticism so that you can keep improving, you can start at the very
bottom and still end up at the very top. If you have no feedback mechanism, no
criticism, no measurement that allows you to correct your course, however (or
if you ignore all that), it almost doesn't matter how high you start, you'll
always end up mediocre at best.

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13ren
Be unafraid to die, and you will live! Reminds me of "9 out of 10 businesses
die":

If you start 10 startups, you have near-certainty of making it (yeah, I know
1-.9^10<1), assuming you learn a lot from each attempt.

What can stop you: giving up OR being unable/unwilling to learn some
particular lesson that is crucial. The article is about making yourself
vulnerable to learning.

