The Builder’s Dilemma

March 19th, 2008

Tags: hope, life, pandora, project, time management

Part of the builder’s mentality is a certain can-do attitude: There’s no challenge that cannot be surmounted, no problem that cannot be solved, no issue that cannot be resolved through some creative application of talents. This is actually the easiest way to figure out if you’re talking to a Builder. If you give him a problem, the first question will be : "How do I solve it", rather than "Why should I solve that". It doesn’t matter whether it’s a good idea, whether there’s any use to it, or whether anyone wants it (which is why we have CRM’s): If you get one inspired he’ll find a solution come hell or high water, and God help you if you try to put on the brakes.

My coworker Tommy and I are builders. We go to lunch regularly and we think of neat things to do. In our conversations we talk about new tech, and since neither one of us shy’s away from learning a new language or fiddling with a new toy, the ideas of what is possible just fly. In course of this conversation we come up with some pretty viable business concepts and application ideas. We’ve imagined iPhone applications, conventions that would appeal to a specific demographic, everything from creating the Starbucks of milk bars to reasonably plausible ways of taking over the world.

Our dilemma though is this: What do you work on? There are only so many hours in the day, and the demands of everyday life continue to suck away at grand dreams and visions. Prioritization is important, but with so many interesting things to pursue it’s often hard to put an impassioned new discovery aside in favor of something previously deemed more important. Would you rather explore a new business concept, or… do laundry? A difficult decision, and one I’ve struggled with on my own on many occasions.

See, I like coming up with ideas. I’ve architected out an AIR application for data analysis on Electoral-Vote.com’s polling data for the US, contemplated new user interface paradigms that would combine workspace changes, contextual computing and serious eye candy, and written up (but not submitted) the incorporation paperwork for a non profit that might change the way people think of higher education. It’s all in there, in my head, and the most annoying thing is that I cannot for the sake of me follow through on all (or any) of it.

This is why I work so much, why I’m always busy, and why I take my laptop practically everywhere: I don’t know when I might find a few minutes to sustain the inspiration. This is also why most of my vacations are spent coding- it’s the only time I can find to do some of these things that have been pressing on my mind… and until that creative pressure has been released I can’t even begin to think of letting my body relax. Yet in the end I inevitably face failure, discouraging and all, at least for as long as it takes for the next idea to come along, and off I go tripping on some new idea that’ll just lead to the same end. Just for once it’d be nice to take off a few months and complete one of these, and the way I see it it’s about bloody time.

To quote a former (and perhaps future) partner: "Michael, when you focus you’re unstoppable". Well, lets see if there’s truth in that. I have all the skills, processes and knowledge necessary to bring one of my ideas to fruition, it’ll just take a few months of fairly hard work with few distractions. To everyone reading this, please don’t hold your breath. As I’ve clearly stated above the vast majority of these things fizzle, and I have no reason to believe that this one won’t.

I’ve codenamed the project Pandora. This has nothing to do with the music website, rather it’s a reference to the myth of the origin of Hope. Color me sentimental, but I like the symbolism of it all. Now, I’ve picked this particular project because it’s an idea I keep coming back to. It’s one I’ve had almost a decade ago, it keeps resurfacing to grab my attention for a month or two (though I inevitably start over). If anything, the tsunami of social media has made it even more relevant.

So, heads up everyone. In a few months I’m either going to be ecstatically happy, or suicidally depressed. I might have somethign shiny to show, and I might not. I’m accepting gifts of comfort food in advance though :).