No Progress: Part 2

Today I realized that my no progress was a lot of progress as is usually the case.

Frederick Douglass said "Without struggle there is no progress."  But the flipside of that statement is that with the correct struggle progress is very probable.  

Over the last day or two I was trying to figure out how to get Aptana to interpret my PHP scripts.  Finally after trolling the discussion boards, asking questions, and other such I got to the root of the problem.  The problem is that I did not have a web server installed and that PHP was not installed either.  I had an editor.  I needed an interpreter which usually requires a web server.  


Most people would be angry or disappointed.  But I was and still am quite excited.  I feel as though I have just made a discovery which is equivalent to jet packs being strapped to both of my feet.  My journey is forcing me to learn about the nuiances of Apache, Linux, and PHP, not to mention Magneto and other technologies.  

I feel as though soon enough I will be working for a firm where I am simply honing these skills constantly and breathing them into my own projects.  My feet are on the path and my learning will only pick up.  


The next steps are to continue working on the technical aspects and then to turn my full attention to learning about Linux and Apache and writing in order to add to my media business.  


During the learning process I have an ability to also write.  I will leverage that and learn technically and write creatively at the same time.  


I am a man of purpose.

ViP (Vision in Process)

Next year I have some goals:

1.  Complete another book (Baseball 2.0)
2.  Complete three more websites (GFM, GT, and S+L)
3.  Complete two screen plays
4.  Sell both screenplays for a million with the rights to revert back to me if they're not made within a set term.
5.  Make 5,000 dollars a month to me from S+L

But these goals don't answer a fundamental question.   What is the driving vision behind my life?  


I know there are things I want to do: own a successful software company, own a successful game company that changes the paradigm of playing games, and own a successful media and clothing company.  But I do not know what the overarching vision is.  


Right now this is what I am sure of:


1.  I want to allow my technological work to feed my media company, meaning that the profit (ongoing profit from one of my technical ventures) will feed building my publishing company.


2.  I will own all the means of production for all of my films and self fund them.


3.  There are three drives to my learning: technology as it gives power.  It's the only source of pure power in the form of knowledge that I know of and it leverages my natural intellectual advantages.  The second is marketing.  Being able to craft a message to reach the largest number of people in the most accurate way can't be overstated.  Finally, languages will allow for a greater communication, more creativity, and more opportunities.


I should go to bed now and begin to wake up earlier.  I have not had a drink in weeks and I want to begin to leverage that advantage by waking up earlier and doing more.

Girl Wish List

Nicole Bilderback -- actress in Numb3rs.

No Progress

Today I worked very hard on some code and I made no progress.  To be specific I was trying to pass a JSON object from the client to the "server" on a PHP script.  I just couldn't get it to work and I spent hours on it.  Finally I stopped and decided that I would post something to a message board.  I haven't received a reply yet but it's a noob question.  But that's not the important thing.

I've been here before.  When I was working on a project for EY I went three grueling days trying to figure out the solution to what should have been a very simple problem.  The project was over budget and I was under pressure.  Three days staring at a screen.  Then finally I came upon a small segment of an article that presented a slice of code.  That slice was the solution.  I finished the entire project three days later.  Now I'm a ninja on that application.


I'm starting to feel the same thing now.  Today was intractable.  But I know that it's simply the growing pain.  I know that a few steps down the line I'll be awesome at this too.  It'll just take some late nights and a lot of pressure.  Then I'll be able to take my eyes off of the techniques and begin to freely and quickly create.


But until then after I'm done with this blog post and dinner I'll probably go right back to trying to crack that problem.  I'm ready and eager to move forward.

Design Driven

Steve Jobs let the design drive the engineering.  At most companies it's the other way around. 

I gather that's the difference between Facebook, Google, Space X and perhaps even Tesla.  All of these companies pride themselves on being engineering driven.

Steve was art driven.  Art is design.  Design creates an emotional connection.  Design drives engineering. 

Personal Note:

The way you dress, the items in your home, your transport, they are all design.  They all say something about you.  That's what Apple products do.  They say something about you.  It's important and this importance will reverberate throughout my life.  I am just beginning to feel it's impact.

Steve Job's Brilliance

I'm learning a lot from Steve Job's book by Walter Isaacson, so much in fact that it'll be a series of blog posts so I can keep track of these lessons.  I'll have to review the book after I read it to make it actionable.

But the one insight I've just had is that this book is Steve's last product launch to us.  It's the product launch of Apple to us, the public.  It uses Steve's story as a hook.  But it's real purpose is to introduce us to Apple and the people in it.  He is introducing us with elegance to the people that are now running Apple.  It's his last message to us that we can still trust Apple.  

I am learning so much.

Everything Delivered

GFM must have a very simple aesthetic.  Go For Me.   Everything delivered.  A picture of a girl at her computer.  A picture a guy delivering stuff to her.