Old-Fashioned Life

As we walked around the grounds, peeking into the old buildings, studying old-style animal enclosures and puzzling over the farm machinery, I felt a lump growing in my throat that I could not explain. I kept thinking what a treasure we'd found, what a wonderful experience we were having. It felt as though we were on hallowed ground, and a stifling feeling of heartache stayed with me. Since then, I've been pondering why I had such a flood of emotion just walking around looking at "old stuff." I've decided that what I was feeling that day was the fading echoes of the hopes, the dreams, the struggles and the lives of the people who inhabited the past.

I heard a riff on an old quote recently, that seems particularly appropriate today. “If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing badly (at least at first).” It was probably Seth Godin that said it, though it certainly could have been someone else (or a number of people). In any case, that’s what this endeavor feels like. I need to get started, but I don't yet feel up to the task.

I tell myself that it’s because I’ve failed so many times before, but really it’s because I’ve started so many times before, without actually shipping. I start on lots of cool ideas, any of which could really pay off in the long–term, but before I can actually realize a benefit, I quit and/or switch to a different project. If I could ever stick to something for a couple of years, it would likely be a raging success.