Working on your big idea? Keep going.
At Tuitive, we are often times working with clients on their “big idea,” and in doing so, experience that disconnect between the big idea and what time and budget will allow. And in the case of our own project, FunnelBug, we live this tension every day. I take minor consolation in the adage “Rome wasn’t built in a day” but it’s still easy for frustration to take hold. I always wish we were farther along and had spent less money getting there.
I stumbled across this great quote from NPR personality Ira Glass. For those pursing their “big idea,” I hope this is a source of encouragement.
blog comments powered by DisqusNobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.
- Ira Glass, host and producer of NPR’s This American Life.
