

Handling Self Doubt and Battling Inactivity - rkalla
http://www.thebuzzmedia.com/handling-self-doubt-and-battling-inactivity/

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mgkimsal
"What, your life-dreams aren’t worth $10k to you?"

Well... the problem is often that money is just part of it. Just because you
spend some time and $10k (or some mixture) doesn't guarantee success. But...
staying put in a job for those same months will very likely guarantee that
$10k. And most people need that money because they're living, if not check to
check, then dangerously close.

Additionally, it's typically _not_ just that $10k. When that's spent, and the
idea hasn't taken off, what should you do? The logical/safe thing and go back
to the w2 world and keep working? Or do you dig in a "refuse to give up!" like
so many self-help books/cds would tell you to do, and what so many
tech/successporn blogs talk about.

"Look at all those 'founders' who are wildly successful!" you can say to
yourself. " _They_ didn't give up! When things went bad, they did a pivot!"
And so you'll pivot, and spend more money, etc.

For some people, the journey _is_ the reward, and that's fine for them.
_Personally_ , for me, having a long runway and low expenses would be
important before trying to focus on any one idea (and that's what I'm working
towards). So... in my case, and perhaps for many others, the "micro-actions"
are (or should be) getting your finances in such a state that you can fund
your own idea rather than pining away for investment money.

The "more criticism you receive means you should push on because it's a good
idea" is... frankly, bizarre. There's probably a lot of counter examples to
scenarios I'm thinking of, but often times people really do criticize
something because it truly is bad. Not everyone is a negative dream stealer
full of "stinkin' thinkin'".

As you said, you need to apply some 'common sense', but that's what's truly
uncommon. People closest to their idea often are too emotionally invested in
their baby, and to tell them "criticism == you have a good idea" would cause
many people to spend a lot more of their time and money in pursuit of a bad
idea. People also need to learn to separate criticism of the core idea/concept
from criticism of the execution of that idea, to the extent that's possible.

Anyway, lots of reactions to that piece - thanks for posting it :)

~~~
rkalla
Michael, thank you for the well thought out feedback.

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slindsey
This struck a chord with me today.

" -I want to start my own business… -Oh it will never work, I don’t know what
it takes ... -I guess I should just hope for that promotion at work… -Good,
that sounds safe "

I decided a few weeks ago that I'd had enough at my job. Some new management
came in and have really messed up a good place to work. And I missed out on
that promotion...

I finally decided that I needed to do something. I've wanted to start my own
business, but it takes a lot of effort, and I'd rather play with my kids. But
there is time, you just need to find it.

~~~
rkalla
I'm glad to hear you took the next step in realizing the future you want, that
is exciting/scary/wonderful.

What kind of business are you starting?

~~~
slindsey
I'm just going to do software development. It's what I love. But I've always
done it for a big company and I'm tired of that. I'm in the process of
figuring out how I can work for myself - some software product I can sell
maybe. I started learning Android development this week with the thought that
I might find a little success there as a starting place. The details are
fuzzy, but as the article pointed out, sometimes you just need to start.

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litmus
I find that active self-deception works for me frankly.

I concentrate on pretending that the thing i want to do is something I cannot
not do. Whats one activity that i do every day that I can't avoid doing?

Going to the bathroom.

So whenever I try to talk myself out of doing that activity I ask myself, "Can
you avoid taking a piss for an entire day?" the answer is no.

I found that for me the feeling of having to take a piss is the one thing that
conveys both urgency and inevitability at the same time. and that any activity
that i catalogue as "the same" as taking a piss by association also becomes
urgent and inevitable.

anyway, this is how I got myself to run 4-5 km everyday for the last year and
a half.

