- Simplify, don’t embellish
- Less thinking, more doing
- Talk to people.
- “When is it time to stop researching? NOW.”
- Push it as far as you can. Don’t just go for the easy implementation. Aim for disruption.
Working by yourself is really, really hard. There’s people to bounce ideas off. But ultimately, the choices you make are yours. You have to do something. Set your own goals. Yet still there’s the pressure of being compared to something outside of yourself in the end.
But actually, that’s not true. You’re still being compared to your own benchmark. Sure, people will see your work. But all that matters is that you completed your exploration the way you wanted to. And not the way others dictate.
So, what do I want to do?
I think that one of the scary parts of this is that I have no idea what my outcome will look like. But I also shouldn’t be thinking of solutions right now. I should be exploring.
OK, so there seem to be two different ways of thinking about a project.
- Exploratory
- Outcome-focused
In both methods, I will be learning a lot. In the exploratory method, I probably will not have a polished outcome, but I will have explored the bounds of capabilities (or, well, mine). In the outcome-focused method, I will have a polished outcome, but I won’t have explored the bounds.
This may seem tautological but I have to get it out in order to construct meaning for myself.