Starting Stuff is Hard

So, I know what you’re thinking.  You’ve read the title of my first personal blog post and you can already tell I’m a literary genius!  Ahem.

Seriously though, starting stuff is hard!  And I think that’s something most people (please say it wasn’t just me?!) underestimate when they first have an idea to do something.  Whether it’s starting a blog, working out, revamping test suites, or gathering requirements for a brand new feature.  Starting stuff is hard.

And I could link to a study or two with stats to prove that I did, in fact, read once upon a time that it’s a “proven fact”, but the internet is full of people saying lots of stuff; some of it’s true, some of it’s not.  Just trust me that I did, if for no other reason than that I don’t need to add searching for said links to my list of procrastination aids!

Instead, I want to point you to somthing more useful – A Guide to Personal Side Projects from the folks at Smashing Magazine.  There are a lot of really good tips in there that can be applied to more than just personal projects.

I’m trying to put a few of them to use – particularly separating essentials from enhacements.  Blog posts are surely more important to a blog than sidebar content, footers, and mobile icons, but I’m sure you can guess what I’ve spent the last two months or so fussing over!

So just do it.  And if it starts out looking not so great, who cares, so long as you’ve started on the essentials first and not the enhancements.  Because you can’t enhance something that doesn’t exist yet, and that’s what I’m trying to get comfortable with too.

You feel me, dawg?  I’ve tried to set the tone for my blog with this post – relaxed, not too long, and calling it like I see it.

I’ve read so many blog posts and articles that just seem to be trying to sound fancy!  And if I’m not familiar with the – unexplained – concepts or terms used in them, it just makes me feel stupid.  I don’t want to make people feel stupid, I want to make them (you!) feel like they’ve gained something – ingisht, an opposing view, tips, laughter, something to think about.

I’d love to know what you think about my first post, and how I’m doing as I post more – if I’m staying on track, need to settle down a bit, or there’s something else I could do to improve.  So let me know!

Thanks for reading all the way through – you’re awesome =]