Projects

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Seeing it through

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Every time I start working on a fresh new idea, I get really excited and motivated. The first few weeks will be extremely productive as you have momentum and optimism on your side. It's similar to the feeling when you first got a book. You'll go through the first few chapters really quickly. If you're fast, you might even finish it on the same day.

But unlike reading a book, working on an idea and developing it can't be done in a day or two. It's a marathon not a sprint. So what happens when your initial enthusiasm and motivation wears off?

You'll start to be less productive and suddenly everything seems hard. At times, you might even ask if you should continue working on it. You'll start to notice all the flaws and problems with your idea.

My advice is that you have to see it through somehow. Nothing great and worth doing has ever been easy. You'll learn more from finishing it and fail than abandoning it half way.

It is said that failure is the best teacher. I think success is a better one but to get to either, you actually have to reach the finish line. Whether you succeed or fail, you win. You lose when you give up half way.

The only other reason you lose is that you didn't even start. So get started and make sure you persevere till the end.

 

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Taking action

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Around the same time I started this blog, I also started a brainstorming group with a few close and smart friends. We called it Idearum and met up every fortnight to share ideas and discuss certain issues. Then early this year, we restarted the group and with some new members and started discussing about business ideas and things we can do. We all agreed that instead of just brainstorming ideas, we should try implementing some of them.

Inline with this new direction, I've decided to start an online community that encourages people to take action and work on their ideas. Hopefully, with the support and resources from the community, it will be easier to realize your dreams and bring ventures to life.

At this moment, we are still developing the site itself so hopefully soon we'll be able to launch it and inspire more people to take action and create value. After all, life is too short to not do something that matters.

If you got an idea that's been stuck in your head for a while, it's time to take action and work on it. Start a newsletter or work on that painting you always wanted to do. Lead a movement or build that iPhone app you wanted.

Whatever the idea, nothing will happen unless you start taking action. And maybe, just maybe, with enough of people doing great work and stuff that matters, we might be able to change the world.