Open House: Archives

Often a good idea hits a road block and that's the end of it. Challenges thwart our progress. We don't know how to overcome them, and frequently, that's enough to make us find an easier solution or abandon an idea altogether. We move on and forget. No big deal. I've had vendors (printers, sign-makers, fabricators, etc) respond to my requests saying "that will be really challenging" or "we don't want to go down that road because of the difficulties in [whatever]." Lame. Quit using "that would be hard" as a reason to NOT do something. If you ask me it's a better reason to go for it.

You think it was easy to land on the moon? Was there a nice path leading to the top of Mt. Everest? Is everything that's worth doing easy? No way. Buck up! I'd venture that if it's not easy, then it's probably more worth doing. My most rewarding projects have been those that didn't have a ready-made solution waiting for me, no how-to book available and no one saying "sure, you can do that". It's more interesting when people say "you're crazy." Now we're talking. Now that's is a challenge worth looking into.

Check out this BBC video. It's a behind-the-scenes look at shooting one scene from their "Nature Collection." Was it was easy to shoot this scene? Was there a reay-made how-to explaining the process? Hardly. They had to figure it out for themselves. They had to invent new tools and equipment, customize, build and modify. I don't think you can go down to the camera store and buy a bicycle-wheel-on-a-tripod dolly advancement rig. You have to come up with that on your own.

My point is this: There is always a way, it might not be easy. You might not be able to go buy the equipment you need. You might have to invent it yourself. You might not be able to find a step-by-step process on the Web. You might have to be the one to write it. Do it! You wanted to be an explorer when you were a kid, but the whole world has been mapped for 200 years. Well this is your chance. Quit looking for off-the-shelf solutions and break something trying to make it do something that it wasn't intended to do. Explore. Experiment. Make mistakes and try again.

Break your idea down into one problem at a time and start solving them, however long it takes. "That will take too long" is another weak excuse. Boo. A year from now you'll be looking back thinking that you could have had a year's worth of experience under your belt but instead you gave up. Don't make that mistake again this year. Start now, and a year from now you'll be amazing yourself. The years roll by quickly. This is one case where you can use this to your advantage. It's not too late. It's not too hard.

Thanks to Shelby White for posting this inspiring video on his blog.