View http://paulgraham.com/ds.html
I really like this piece, it’s a longer read but Paul Graham is worth reading in my opinion. The general idea he talks about really outlines a number of factors that usually scare people about starting things. While he’s speaking specifically to startups, we can really extrapolate those feelings onto just about anything, even personal projects. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve put something aside for a number of the reasons outlined in the article, but I think I’m learning something as time goes on: It’s not going to go the way you expect it, and you’re likely always going to feel as though you’re swan diving into the unknown.
I think we’re all enamored about what we recognize (but quickly forget about or flat out deny) as the ‘social network facade’ where it feels like everything everyone else is doing and my version isn’t like that so I must be doing something wrong. Social networks look like utopia, don’t they? So do the articles we read about startups getting funding and users and fame and glory and all of it. We don’t read about the real details, about how the company almost blew up before it even got started, about how it spent years trying to prove itself before it was accepted. People don’t like sharing the ugly side of things, but we need to keep in mind that nothing’s a fairy tale, the problems we’re faced with should be inspiration for us to tackle them head on. If there weren’t stressful parts to every day, we’re likely not trying hard enough, right?