Skip The Stepping Stones

Photo by Gladius

I’m impatient and shamelessly unafraid of failing.

So says Seth Godin, in this interview.

I can be impatient too, and especially so when I start something new. I tried playing guitar on a number of occasions when I was younger, but gave up because I wasn’t instantly amazing. However, sometimes I find something that I have some initial success with I’m also greatly attracted to. When that happens, I try to figure out the “short cut”, for want of a better phrase. People always say there are no short-cuts, just hard work; but I think there are short-cuts—it’s just that they’re harder work.

I released my first game in February 1996, and it was great to get a whole lot of fanmail directly from that. Then, instead of actually going off to work in the games industry and get experience that way, I worked on general software for a couple of years then just started a company with zero contacts. It was a huge and tricky learning curve, and although it ended in sadness, I wouldn’t swap the experience for anything. I didn’t go and do an MBA (and some may say that I should have done), but I don’t think I would have learned as much about life and about myself.

I’d been thinking about screenwriting since 1996 (strangely), and when I got around to doing something about it, my first attempt was shortlisted in a competition. I received extra training for it, and I’m drawn to writing more than ever. Currently, I’m thinking about how I can learn the most in the shortest amount of time. Working on Buffet of Death was great for this, but what could I do with more than 48 hours? What would happen if I just did something?

As a smaller scale example, I was playing Guitar Hero for the first time a few months back with some expert players. I tried the easiest song, and was more or less perfect (I like rhythm action games!). So then they tried me higher difficulty levels and trickier songs, until I was suddenly on one of the hardest songs on my fifth play of the game—and doing not terribly at it. That led to us wondering if just jumping in at the higher level would actually be better for mastering the skills for the game. I think we were almost right.

Do something small to learn the basics, then jump right in. Skip the stepping stones in the middle.

It will be scarier, you’ll have to run faster to keep up, and you’ll definitely make mistakes. On the flipside, you’ll have fun, learn lots, meet some amazing people and achieve more in a short space of time than many people achieve in a lifetime.