Do the Damned Thing!

A great friend of mine, Chuck Beattie, once said something that has since stuck with me, "Just do the damned thing!" At the time he was working with me as a software developer and trying with immense patience to teach me to play guitar. I can't even remember the context but I certainly remember the message and it applies to so many situations.

I've been talking to several entrepreneurs lately and one thing I've noticed that hinders more than a few of them is getting stuck in the big picture planning and failing to perfect the core product.  There is no need to hire a team, build out infrastructure or look for investors until you have a handle on what it is you're actually building.

I've been guilty of the same thing over the years; planning a software project of such scope with so many moving parts that it took an immense effort, not only to code, but to debug and launch the product. A grand vision is fine, but one must learn to break it down into component parts.

I'm sure most of us have thought of a really great idea for a product, book, article, application, system of government, rocket fuel, inter-dimensional portal...etc. Sometimes we might see our idea years later in production made by someone who had the same idea and did something about it.

A couple of friends of mine, Shane Remington and Kendall Weaver, know how to take that next step and what they created with Peppermint OS benefits a huge number of people. These guys work other jobs, have families and social lives. They aren't the stereotypical hide in a cave socially awkward entrepreneurs. They just did the damn thing!

Imagine it like this, what if Da Vinci had spent all of his time talking about and building a frame for the Mona Lisa?