It’s confession time here at the PLC, and here’s my confession: I have a problem. Well, it’s not really a problem. It’s actually a good thing. It just also happens to be a frustrating thing.
I get a lot of ideas. Shiny ideas that set my brain spinning and put me on a course of action, making the ideas a reality. Writing the story. Designing the app. Painting the picture, etc.
Inevitably, at some point along the way, I run into the part of the project I don’t yet know how to do. The part where I say to myself, “In order to accomplish X, I have to learn how to Y and Z.” And it’s frustrating, because if I already knew how to Y and Z, I’d keep moving forward, get the project done and stand back and admire it for the shiny thing it is. But instead, there’s a delay while I ramp up on some kind of skill–be it programming or writing or painting–that I need in order to finish. I’m constantly building bridges between my ideas and my abilities.
The upside to all this is I’m always learning new skills. The downside is it takes time. And time often feels like my enemy (though I know it really isn’t).
In the coming days I’m wrapping up a very big project that required building a lot of bridges. As this project ends, I’ll be starting up a number of others. And there will inevitably be delays while I stop to learn something before I can continue creating.
The key, I guess, is to never stop building, never stop bridging those gaps.
