Just Doing It

I've always had a problem with Just Doing It. It's not that I don't have the desire or the motivation to create, it's just that I always want to know that there is the potential for a cohesive final project before I start--and that need to have a perfect final vision in mind has held me back and kept me from creating anything at all. Lately I've been trying to remind myself that beginning is always the hardest part, and to convince myself once and for all that anything would be better than nothing.

I think a big part of it is a fear of failure; that the results may not be as good as I expect. But of course it's easy to see if you're at all tuned in to anything happening on the internet that no one cares about finalizing and refining anymore. Blogs are not tightly edited pieces, they're snippets of thought blurted out. Reality shows are not results, they are chronicles of a process. These are the materials the world consumes. I am holding myself back with the stubborn and apparently outdated feeling that I need to finish something before I can share it. I see people on Gawker, for example, who are apparently famous or noteworthy-enough to appear on Gawker, and who are doing nothing particularly special or interesting, certainly nothing that I couldn't do (maybe even better)--but the difference between them and me is that they're actually doing it! And really, all it takes is simply jotting down a few thoughts and posting them on a semi-regular basis. What could be easier? Clearly our culture is now about sharing and oversharing, showing and telling . . . and quality be damned.

So here goes.