

The most important lesson I ever learned - alexshye
http://alexshye.wordpress.com/2012/07/10/the-most-important-lesson-i-ever-learned/

======
pejapeja
It's true that nothing really stops you from just doing it, but in my opinion
without anyone there to anticipate your accomplishment it's hard to motivate
your self. Sure if you have natural talent, meaning you can naturally generate
motivation without anyone's positive feedback. But without any positive
external feedback your natural motivation will probably die out.

I can relate to the author in many ways, but I didn't take that lesson away
from my time in school. In my view, I was born with a natural motivation to
invent and analyze things, and my struggle was to find the right environment,
with the right people and tools that could grow this motivation rather than
killing it with indifference. It's all about meeting the right people who
gives you that push.

The author said he didn't need any professor to get started, it's true, but he
did need a friend to give him that push, that showed him that at least someone
wanted to see him "do it".

~~~
alexshye
Thanks for commenting, and I agree that it is often all about surrounding
yourself with good people.

I can already tell that the motivation/drive part is one of the larger
challenges. My approach to it so far is to work on something I know I can
passionate about for years. But who knows? It has only been a few months. When
I've gotten further into this entrepreneurship thing, I'll probably write a
post on how I've succeeded/or failed at that challenge.

~~~
pejapeja
I wish you the best of luck!

------
arh68
I thought this was pretty well-written, but I didn't come away from it with
the same lesson. It didn't seem like you needed any motivation to 'just do
it', but that you confused what 'it' was. You thought what you were doing
(bugging professors to get funding/advising) was 'it' (doing research). This
seemed like the right thing to do since it's the norm (this hints somewhat of
cargo culting), but you didn't realize that what you were trying to do, what
others had done before you, was not truly a prerequisite to the next step. I'm
not clever enough to come up with a slogan like "Just do it" nor am I certain
of the pattern behind your realization (skip the prereqs? refocus your
efforts? blaze your own trail?); that'll have to be an exercise for the
reader.

~~~
alexshye
Yes, there could be many lessons. I took as broad an interpretation as I
could: if there is something you want to do, there is probably nothing
stopping you from getting started and trying.

------
holri
There are no easy lessons to learn. The world is very complex. The search for
easy lessons and universal formulas to success is silly. You have to learn
that you don't now. Nobody knows.

~~~
alexshye
The world is complex, and chances are that any lesson worth learning isn't
easy to learn.

This particular lesson is simple in theory, but can be very difficult in
practice.

------
phene
"Just do it" is a pretty shitty lesson.

~~~
alttab
Especially if you are a protestor looking for handouts.

~~~
alexshye
Or if you have a burning desire to chop your own hand off.

