Comments on: Get down from the stands and into the game, the 10 minute guide to getting started

By: Krishna

Krishna — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 02:41:36 +0000

You know something Patrick. I recently fell prey to some of these traps recently. Couldn’t get a post out for a month ! Looks like I caught myself . Great to hear this helped. Thank you.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 10:50:04 +0000

Krishna, thank you for this post. I recognized several excuses I used myself (You caught me here).
All thinks I got successful at where things I started without being afraid of where it might lead me. Like the blogging. I pondered about it for so long, afraid to start, when all I needed was to write the first article. And then another and learn as I go. I might polish designs etc. for ever, but as long as I write I can do window dressing by the way. And it is the same with nearly anything. I might not become the world greatest actor anymore, but I enjoy acting whenever I can, and I also enjoy teaching people to do it. Maybe I am an even better teacher than an actor, but I might not have found that out hadn’t I started it (out of fun and with no plan in my head) several years ago. Thank you.

By: Krishna

Krishna — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:12:04 +0000

Thanks for that, Madeleine. The 30-day test is so interesting, and it sounds very effective too!

By: Krishna

Krishna — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:11:16 +0000

Aaaarrgggghhh , its a great poem, thanks for that! And yes, its so true, the desire to know everything, all the time about everything is so anxiety provoking!

By: Madeleine

Madeleine — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 18:45:34 +0000

Some excellent ideas here, Krishan. I particularly liked the reference to Seinfeld’s chain (I hadn’t heard of that before) and the suggestion to pick a small (two hour) task to complete, then a task for the next day, and finally one for later in the week. This seems like a manageable and measureable way to get out of “analysis paralysis.”

Something I saw on Steve Pavlina’s blog caould be another way to stop lenghty rehashing of pro’s and con’s. That is to commit to try something for 30 days and stick to it. This works well when you’re not sure that you’ll like something. But 30 days isn’t so long. At the end of 30 days, you assess. Either, “I’m glad that’s over. I never want to do that again.” or “OK, that was interesting. I got some benefit from that, but I’m still not so sure. I think I’ll try it for another 30 days.” or “That was great. I need to do this for the rest of my life.

By: Sac

Sac — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 17:26:33 +0000

Well I agree with you about over researching. Some people get caught into research overload because they believe it is absolutely imperative to become an expert on the subject at hand before they set out to do anything for themselves.
The following poem by R. D. Lang puts it in a light context:

There is something I don’t know
That I am supposed to know.
I don’t know what it is I don’t know,
And yet am supposed to know,
And I feel I look stupid
If I seem both not to know
And not to know what it is I don’t know.

Therefore, I pretend I know it.
This is nerve-wracking
Since I don’t know what I must pretend
To know.

Therefore, I pretend to know everything.

I feel you know what I am supposed to know
But you can’t tell me what it is
Because you don’t know what I don’t know
What it is.

You may know what I don’t know, but not
That I don’t know it.
And I can’t tell you. So you will have
to tell me everything.