“I’d love to start a company / become a great programmer / write an awesome blog, but there’s just not enough time in the day!” Bullshit. There’s always enough time, you’re just not spending it right.
Now that’s some tough love, but I’m sick and tired of hearing “no time” as an excuse for why you can’t be great. It really doesn’t take that much time to get started, but it does take wanting it really bad. Most people just doesn’t want it bad enough and protect their ego with the excuse of time.
This excuse is particularly depressing when it comes from students.
“Oh, I have so many classes. Oh, I have so much home work. There’s simply no time to learn outside of school.”
Then you’re doing it wrong!
Never let your schooling interfere with your education, someone clever once said. Being willing to sacrifice at the edges is one of the most important skills you’ll ever learn.
I’ve received plenty of Bs and even Cs for classes that I was incredibly proud of because they came from hardly no time spent at all. Time that I could then spend on reading my own curriculum, starting my own projects, and running my own businesses.
And I did. During my undergrad, I created Instiki, Rails, Basecamp, and got on the path to being a partner at 37signals. Do you think I could fit all that and still get straight As and have lots of time left over for playing World of Warcraft? No.
If you want it bad enough, you’ll make the time, regardless of your other obligations. Don’t let yourself off the hook with excuses. It’s too easy and, to be honest, nobody cares on the other side.
It’s entirely your responsibility to make your dreams come through.
Ariejan de Vroom
on 10 Mar 09I completely agree. Schooling often gets in the way of your real education. Still, it’s not always easy to keep all the things you want to do in balance with what you need to do.
I wouldn’t be a Ruby on Rails developer for a living now if I stuck with my school books. (I’d probably be doing Java instead).
Andrei
on 10 Mar 09Great post! It took me a while to understand this.
Thomas R. Koll
on 10 Mar 09And if you’re already (or still) in the working force, don’t forget to insist on a flexible four-day week to have one for yourself.
Matthew Lang
on 10 Mar 09Having dreams is great, but it’s only when you fulfill those dreams that you’ll really start going places!
I recently started a new blog that only requires me to spend 2 hours on it per week because I’m using my time wisely.
Paul Campbell
on 10 Mar 09“I’ve received plenty of Bs and even Cs for classes that I was incredibly proud of because they came from hardly no time spent at all.”
Damn straight. I remember seeing a computer / tech exam from one of the business courses and thinking gee, they’re testing people on this stuff?
I’d been ignoring my philosophy degree stuff to freelance, do eCommerce stuff etc. I was running a little dorm-room business, but managed to get by in the philosophy course. I really wished I’d had a chance to take that biztech exam though!
John Gallagher
on 10 Mar 09Brilliant post. Every time I am about to say “I don’t have time for that” I try to replace it with “I can’t/don’t want to make time for it.” There’s always enough time, it’s just how you prioritise it.
I used to work at a company that tried to do 100 different things at once. “What’s important? It’s all important!” was the battle cry. Everyone who worked there was given ridiculous amounts to do for sometimes more than 10 different projects. What happened? Well, what you’d expect. Targets constantly slipped – the other very common phrase was “We can push this back into next week” – and employees were stressed and stretched to breaking point. The net result was the core of our business was almost completely neglected. The delivery of our “important” five year strategy plan slipped by, er… well, five years actually. We didn’t achieve what we set out to do. And the company, unsurprisingly, didn’t last very long.
That taught me a great lesson. When everything is important, nothing is. Sacrifice is essential in achieving your goals.
Michael Kloss
on 10 Mar 09Well, and not only students are suffering from the Student Syndrome ;-)
Tony Wood
on 10 Mar 09Great post David,
When you want something so bad, IT becomes the fun thing and you do not need anything else to fill that gap.
Keep posting!
Anonymous Coward
on 10 Mar 09I got all that. Its figuring out what to do I find harder!
Corindiano
on 10 Mar 09Great post, really inspiring! Made me rethink my day!
@John Gallagher: great comment, thank you!
Johannes Fahrenkrug
on 10 Mar 09Very true, David. I also loved your talk at FOWA Dublin, esp. the part that it’s not about “ideas” or “secrets” but about execution and perseverance. It took me a while too, but I’ve been a freelancer for 2 years now, a step that I don’t regret at all and I’ve even shipped my first own iPhone app about a week ago: gittop, a github client for the iPhone. So all I can say is: don’t get stuck somewhere you don’t want to be. Don’t whine, change it.
Paul
on 10 Mar 09Tough love, but so true. For most people in the developed world, the only thing between us and our dreams is ourselves.
“The first principle is that you must not fool yourself – and you are the easiest person to fool.”— Richard P. Feynman
I’m 30 now, and I wish I’d learnt this lesson about 15 years ago. I feel like I’ve wasted so much time, but I’m making up for it now.
Since turning 30 I’ve decided I’m not taking any of my own BS anymore. I’m losing weight consistently, for the first time in my life, after I stopped making excuses as to why I couldn’t because it was so hard.
I’m running a local theatre company, and I have two web-projects on the go, Graphomatic and Wii Fit Forum. Graphomatic was built to help me lose weight, but will hopefully be the first little stepping stone to me working for myself, which is my ultimate goal.
I don’t have any more time than I did five years ago, I just use it so much better, and I don’t make excuses any more. I still do lots of the stuff I enjoy, I still go out with friends and play games and watch films and the TV, I just prioritise everything so much better so I make the most of it all.
Paul
Kristian Dupont
on 10 Mar 09In fact, time is one of the most fairly distributed resources of all – we all get 24 hours every day.
Alex Hardy
on 10 Mar 09Couldn’t agree more. It’s funny how people can be so deluded about this…
“I have no time for x”
... they say as they sit in front of the television for hours on end.
Paul Leader
on 10 Mar 09@Alex
So true. When I look back a few years, I cringe at how much TV I used to watch.
I still watch TV, but I am much more selective when I do. I ask myself, “will I actually miss this if I don’t watch it” and most of the time the answer is a resounding no.
Paul
Terry Sutton
on 10 Mar 09Great post David.
Could you expand (or expound) a little more on what you mean with ‘sacrifice at the edges’.
I think we all have very different ideas about what those edges are, and it would be great to get your take.
Remiz
on 10 Mar 09Impressive !
But situations are changed now and starting a media company from scratch is not a good idea. So get employed with a great company, work smarter. Get in to the top :)
Jon
on 10 Mar 09Its all very well saying that but I have a day job as a web developer, run a blog about guitars which demands a lot of my time and eats into my guitar playing time and aside from all that I have a baby to look after. So when I say I don’t have time to practice with the band, I really don’t!
Craig Melbourne
on 10 Mar 09Is having 2 kids under 2 an acceptable excuse? They are quite time consuming.
François C.
on 10 Mar 09Great post.
I find that the most difficult thing to do in life is to focus on my goals. There’s just too many thing I like, and in order to get enough time for each thing that really matters, I have to make choices.
André Wendt
on 10 Mar 09@Craig: I absolutely agree.
As long as you’re single, it may be true. But as soon as you start a family, things are going to be different. As a father, I am keeping up with my projects, but it’s getting harder.
I just want to stress that having a family also means that the decision how I spend my time is not a decision you make alone.
Paul
on 10 Mar 09@François C
Agreed, I have had lots of great (in my head at least) ideas over the last few years for sites or businesses, but most of them were too large and complex for me to do on my own and I was constantly getting distracted by the next idea. I have so many half complete projects sat on my hard-drive.
Now I concentrate on just Graphomatic which is nearly a real product, and Wii Fit Forum which just needs a little maintenance each week.
Focus is very important, even when you are juggling several things. Focus on a smaller number of things and really get them done, only then do you move onto your next big thing.
Scott Miller
on 10 Mar 09It’s 8:00 am. Reading this post. A great way to start the day with a little kick in the ass. Thanks!
Rob Bazinet
on 10 Mar 09Very true indeed David and great advice, we really have no valid excuses for not getting going now. I read a really great book by Steven Pressfield called the Art of War which goes into great detail as to why we hold back from getting out and doing something now.
I also wrote a blog post about the book and my personal feelings about the book, called Fear of the Start, please check it out.
We all tend to rationalize why we can’t do something and “no time” is one of the best or at least most used.
Jason Zimdars
on 10 Mar 09I think David is right on.
I’m about to take on a really career changing project that is going to require all my effort and all my focus. Or at least all I can spare after my day job, family, and other obligations.
But I’m excited to attack a period of my life with ruthless focus. For starters that means forgetting about the feed count in my RSS reader, ignoring twitter, not wasting time on things that don’t matter. I’m looking forward to putting the pressure on myself and absolutely killing this project because I know what is at stake.
And focus on this project means more focus at work and more focus on the time I do spend with my family.
I don’t think that making your dreams come true always means more time. Instead, it means focusing on what matters and ignoring the rest. After this project, I may find all kinds of important things that I can live without.
this.mat
on 10 Mar 09I’ll argue that children do not take away your free time.
Weekends become a challenge, and you’re not free as soon as you get off work, but I still have time to work a day job and do freelance web design on the side and I am a single father with a 4 and 5 year old.
Biggest suggestion I have for that is to simplify your life as much as possible.
Great post, the theme of “hard work and dedication makes for success” that you guys have been really pushing lately is refreshing to see while most people are just whining about something or other.
Keep it up.
Brian Hayes
on 10 Mar 09I can’t agree more! I remember sitting in a bunch of bullshit business classes teaching myself code. Year and a half out of school, I’m a partner at an interactive agency and the majority of my friends in finance have lost their jobs.
ShaneG
on 10 Mar 09@Jon
I guess the trick is prioritizing, which is more important, the guitar blog or the band? Another option is combining the two – creating videos of your band practice (suitably edited of course) including chats with the rest of your band about things you would normally talk about on the blog. Just my 2c.
@Craig Melbourne
When I was at Uni my flatmates had a 2yr old who I use to babysit occasionally to give them the chance to go out to dinner or a movie or just have time to themselves (important things when you have a two year old). My favorite trick was to sit her on a cushion on my lap (so she could reach the desk at least) with a keyboard and mouse in front of her (not plugged in of course). So while I was busily doing my assignments she was happily bashing away at the keyboard and sliding the mouse around while watching the pretty colors change on the monitor (due to what I was doing on my mouse and keyboard). I also use to read her to sleep from my ‘Compiler Design in C’ textbook – worked like a charm (on both of us). She is now in her third year of CS (which gives a hint as to how old I am) and her father has never forgiven me (he wanted her to be a doctor).
@Francois C
I have exactly the same problem. Right now I had planned to be reviewing some code I wrote a few days ago – instead I’m posting this.
Great article and a great reminder to me. I’ve just spent four months living off savings and only recently gone back to full time work (yeah, I know – great timing). One thing about time – you don’t realise how important it is until you have it in limited amounts. When I had large chunks of time available to me I tended to waste it (all my RSS feeds and the cross links they lead to, odd little videos I downloaded, weird DVD’s I came across, etc). After all, there was plenty of time :)
Now I am scheduling things a lot more than I used to. Not to an extreme extent, as Andre Wendt said – the decision on how you spend your time is not yours alone (Unless you are a complete shut-in there are always family and friends who have some control over it). You can’t live to a schedule built on 15 minute intervals, there has to be some flexibility. Sometimes you get less done than you expected, sometimes you get more done that you expected. Personally I’ve been using old school notepads as stack traces for my mind – whatever I do I keep a note of, if I don’t get it finished (or I finish something and move on to halfway through something else) I can restore the stack frame by reading the last page or so of my notebook.
Anonymous Coward
on 10 Mar 09@this.mat “I’ll argue that children do not take away your free time.”
They don’t take it all away, but they do greatly diminish it. You can get things done on top of your day job, but it’s slow going and very difficult to get a sustained block of time to really make progress on something
@David “If you want it bad enough, you’ll make the time, regardless of your other obligations.”
Some obligations are more important than your dreams
Cormac
on 10 Mar 09Sorry, inadvertently posted as anonymous
Michael
on 10 Mar 09I think David’s my favorite person at 37Signals.
this.mat
on 10 Mar 09@Anonymous Coward
I wouldn’t call it difficult, maybe it just depends on how complicated someones schedule is, I personally keep mine very simple and avoid too many time sinks.
For example, I don’t start working until after the kids are in bed (sometimes I have tight deadlines in which the kids are awesome about entertaining themselves for a bit), and I still have a good 4-5 hours to do what I need to do for the night before I have to go to bed.
So, dishes, laundry, cleaning up, all of those chores, I involve the kids in anyway so it’s not in the way.
Any school event or something that ‘breaks’ the schedule, then I just reorganize the evening and push a task off until tomorrow.
While some priorities are more important and can cause a delay in your dreams, they don’t stop them, you just have to be more creative to achieve them…or maybe realign yourself to a more fitting dream.
Matthew Stibbe
on 10 Mar 09I’ve been an entrepreneur all my life and I started out designing and programming computer games while I was reading history at Oxford. Looking back on it now, I am in two minds about the ‘start your career at university’ experience. On the one hand, I learned a lot and did, indeed, start a 12 year career in the games business. On the other hand, I had a priceless opportunity to spend more time learning history without many of the pressures of ‘adult’ life. I don’t regret the choice I made but do wonder what might have happened if I took the other path. Certainly, I’m not sure I would encourage students to duck their studies to do something else without first thinking through their options. That said, I completely and utterly agree with you that there is more to college than the formal syllabus and that you go to university to learn how to learn for yourself. My happiest memories are spending a year learning medieval latin – nothing at all to do with my course but one of the best lessons in being a student and working with experts I ever had.
Mark Sadegi
on 10 Mar 09Bravo David! I don’t think anyone could have said it better given all that’s been accomplished in the last few years…
Don Schenck
on 10 Mar 09”... across the blue line … fakes a dump pass … winds up … HE SHOOTS AND SCORES!”
Great post. Ties in with my own (copyrighted) Three Aces Of Success: Audacity, Ambition and Action.
Just this morning, during meditation (my meditations are written), I listed all the responsibilities I have. Then, I left myself with the question: How can I accomplish all this?
That’s not a negative question, that’s a positive question. I ask my subconscious, knowing it will provide an answer.
FANTASTIC POST, David.
Happy
on 10 Mar 09Love this! My problem now is the daily dose of “kick it” that I get from svn is offset by the time I spend reading svn and pondering all the comments.
To students out there, I can verify David’s claim: after school’s done, no one – and I literally mean “NOT A SINGLE PERSON AT ALL” – cares if you got straight A’s or just enough to get your degree. It’s an effort/reward decision that each individual has to make. It’s hard to see when you’re in the thick of it that it really does not matter.
I finished my master’s degree with a perfect 4.0. It was a great personal accomplishment, but I could have been doing so much other stuff with those hours and still have graduated. I just wish I knew it back then.
Marie Poulin
on 10 Mar 09Wow, what a wonderful kick in the ass. I fully agree with you… your life is what you make of it, there’s no time for excuses. If you want it bad enough, you’ll make it happen. I’ll be passing this blog along… :)
Marie
Ryan Heneise
on 10 Mar 09@Craig Melbourne Having 2 kids under 2 is definitely challenging. I have 2 under 2 (soon to be 3 under 3).
Like David says, it’s about setting your priorities and figuring out what to say “no” to. Choosing what NOT to do is far more important than choosing what TO do. I’ve managed to crank out Donor Tools in the past year, meanwhile freelancing and raising two small kids. I’ve said no to a lot of things, and allowed some pretty interesting opportunities to pass by in the process.
I keep telling my wife – circumstances will never be right to do the things we want to do. We just decide to do something, and then figure out how to make it work. Looking back on the things we’ve accomplished when we’ve set our minds to something is intensely satisfying.
Oh, and we don’t have a TV.
Thomas Maas
on 10 Mar 09Agreed.
But:
Most people just don’t (not doesn’t)
your english teacher says hello ;-)
Jaan Orvet
on 10 Mar 09Forget the dream. Create and nurture a plan instead.
Plans are tangible. By having a plan instead of a dream you prepare yourself mentally for turning the idea in to reality.
Make a short list, 4 items, (that’s the foundation for your plan) and action the first one right now. That’s how to turn dreams in to plans in to reality.
And I agree – Theres always time. Turn off the TV, Wii or whatever other time such you have. Free up 30 minutes in a day and you’ve got time to get started!
These topics are some of the reasons we wrote the Noded book – we want to show how relatively easy it actually is to get going.
Damon
on 10 Mar 09Point taken, but you don’t have kids, do you?
Timothy
on 10 Mar 09I completely agree with you. It really is true that anything is possible, it just takes you being willing and able (people are usually able, just not willing).
Montoya
on 10 Mar 09Yep! In my second half of college, I was running my own web design company, started a whole bunch of blogs, programmed my own games, etc. I didn’t have time for Counterstrike or Starcraft or any of those other time drains. I learned to work if I wanted to accomplish things.
Chris
on 10 Mar 09I was going to echo the ‘complexity of kids’ sentiment, but I realized that while I don’t accomplish as much as I did (read: could have) at the age of 20, I am still actively working on my personal goals now that I have a family. Like most posting, I have a 9-5. I also am building up a growing freelance business and am an active filmmaker.
Kids do make it exponentially more complex because you are only left with a sliver of time each day to devote entirely to your own pursuits, but there is always a path. Like others have said, it’s all about priorities. Family just becomes one of them. Check back about 9pm tonight when my kid won’t stay in her new toddler bed, and see if I’m posting something different.
Chris
on 10 Mar 09@Ryan: You’re absolutely right – circumstances will never be right to do the things we want to do. It’s like that with every major decision/commitment. The sooner we let go of the idea that ‘one day my life will be ready to accommodate this plan’, the sooner we start to see things happen.
Javier Cabrera [EmaStudios]
on 10 Mar 09OH MY GOD!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You opened my eyes D, really; I was in the same path too, but not into becoming a 37signals partner, but on becoming a crying failure. “No time to do this”, “no time to do that”, “if I only had more time during the day”.
You are absolutely right. I needed someone bitch-slap me; now I’m awake.
Thanks D, really. I’m on it.
Javier
mark weiss
on 10 Mar 09I agree you can’t do everything and do it well. You have to sacrifice. I guess that means anything that gets in the way of my dreams I have to be willing to let go. That could get scary, but be oh so rewarding.
Thanks for the brutal honesty!
mandy
on 10 Mar 09I found that after I had a kid I became much better at using my time and was inspired to actually ‘do’ the things that were just dreams prior to having my kid.
Now I understand what this post is all about, it is our own responsibility to make our own dreams come true. There is never the perfect time. It’s tricky to manage our business while raising a child and holding down a full-time job, but we’re making it happen in a good way.
Alex
on 10 Mar 09Hi,
From what I have just read, I can agree on the priorities aspect of the issue. Indeed, if you just say “don’t have the time” BEFORE really thinking in what your time is invested, then you have a management issue. A self-management if you like. And also it is very important to compare your dreams and objectives to something really trust worthy, a role model. Don’t let any stupid ambitions guide you. Remeber that scene from Finding Nemo, at the end, the fish had finally gone into the sea and one said: “Ok, now what?...” I don’t know if it’s the best example because those fish could find the solution also, but I hope you get my point. :)
Rob Bazinet
on 10 Mar 09Follow-up to my comment above, the book I mentioned was called the War of Art (not Art of War). It is great book, worth a read pretty much dedicated to what David is talking about.
Margaret
on 10 Mar 09It’s all true. I loved college and did learn a lot from great lectures by great teachers, but I also worked very hard to make sure that as much of my time outside of the class room as possible was spent on developing my company and developing myself as an entrepreneur. Now I feel like I double majored and I am very glad I did.
Jonathan
on 10 Mar 09Well said! We have as much time as we want and need. This reminds me of one of my favorite quotes:
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” – Marianne Williamson
Able Parris
on 10 Mar 09I completely agree. I just wrote an article on this the other day called, Do What You Love.
NotARichKid
on 10 Mar 09I like how most people on here talk about making a business while in college and doing it right out of your dorm. What a bunch of spoiled brats. When I was in college I went to class between 8am-2pm and then went to work between 4pm-10pm everyday 5 days a week. Weekends were spent doing homework and projects. The little time in between classes and work was spent driving HOME because I couldn’t afford to live near college.
Your advice is as helpful as just saying “work harder”.
this.mat
on 10 Mar 09@NotARichKid
A lot of people lived off financial aide, and a lot of people got paid for development work they did on the side. I admire that you work hard and have a busy schedule, but you shouldn’t be bitter at other people who went a different route.
You never know how much debt they incurred while starting that business, you never know what side projects they were doing, and while you may be right that some people do have more privileges than others, they were still starting a business or working on side projects, instead of wasting their time partying like a real ‘spoiled brat’ would seem to.
Wear your work ethic and devotion as a badge of honor, don’t be bitter at others because of their circumstance that you might not have all the details on.
Keep working hard and keep your eye on the prize, think long term.
Cheers.
Dave Armstrong
on 10 Mar 09Everything here is almost correct… but just slightly off-kilter. We do not have unlimited time. We do not have all the time to do everything we want.
But we do have the opportunity and, arguably, responsibility to prioritize. Once we do that, our top priorities will have enough time, and they will make us feel fulfilled so we do not miss the items that didn’t make the cut.
So… children… yes, children “take away” my free time. But that was my choice when I had them. It is everyone’s own personal choice how much time to spend with their children. I personally put this above any technical project or work. My day job gives me that luxury. But as life-changing as they are, it doesn’t change things—you prioritize your own life.
(I just don’t want to have to answer to adult children in the future why I put anything above them.)
Adrian Turner
on 10 Mar 09You had me at bullshit, LOL!
GREAT POST!
THANKS!
Carlos
on 10 Mar 09Man, you just slapped me on the face and told me “WAKE UP!”
Bob
on 10 Mar 09This idealist (and bordering on immature IMO) approach is exactly the way you think you should think when you’re fresh out of school, climbing that ladder, and without a family-unit-system-device.
Work more than you’re getting paid for. Do the extra hours, get the “experience” that will put you above and beyond your peers. I did it, and I have reaped many of those rewards. And put many things in front of things that may have been equally important.
However, as life progresses, the commitment to doing that great work stays steady, but the question of balance (or imbalance) comes painfully into play.
As a few posts along the trail here have alluded to – maturity means making some decisions, putting certain things into perspective, and chasing that balance. I work my effin’ ass off on every project I am involved in, and as much as I and the team I work with are capable, the result IS great. It’s not always ideal.
What is lacking is not any sense of commitment – no failure to push the envelope or conquer any fear of success. Its simply time guys. Thats all it effin’ is. Time. You’ll see.
What the original post says however is also true. You need to make your dreams come true, no one will do it for you. And dreams change. Good luck. I hope this adds some perspective.
@ Dave “(I just don’t want to have to answer to adult children in the future why I put anything above them.)” True that.
Arnie
on 10 Mar 09The best advice DHH has given to date.
”..........whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. BEGIN NOW” v. Goethe
Hari Rajagopal
on 10 Mar 09When you find yourself saying “I don’t have time”, you can translate that to “I don’t care”. It is hard to say that truth to someone politely let alone to yourself. So we sugar coat it and say “no time”.
When unavoidable obstacles / obligations (family, kids etc.) are in your way of achieving your dreams, pay attention to them. They are there for a good reason. They have to be taken care of. It is there to help you grow to achieve your dreams.
There are certain things you may have to learn, certain things you have to let go of, before you can proceed further, and circumstances in life help you do that.Current circumstances are very real and very appropriate. Always. Do not ignore them. Embrace instead. They got the clues for you to reach the next level.
Life is not a game of dice, ya know.
For example, patience and letting go of being a perfectionist in every thing are somethings that I am learning raising my kids.
Sir Pants
on 10 Mar 09Thanks – I needed that!
Circumspect
on 10 Mar 09NotARichKid is right, there’s a significant class dynamic at play here. Put simply, it’s a luxury to take risks with your time. That’s why wealthy parents encourage their kids to be entrereneurs, while poor parents encourage their kids to seek financial stability.
It’s the combination of two adages: time is money, and it takes money to make money.
Happy
on 10 Mar 09Circumspect: You’re right, there is a class dynamic at play. Yet, there is some research that shows that there is not explicit encouragement from parents either way. Nor do middle- and upper-class parents see time as a luxury (quite the contrary, middle- and upper-class parents tend to have a more urgent approach toward time).
Rather, there is a difference in parenting techniques that results in children being equipped with different skills. One set of skills just happens to be better suited for entrepreneurs.
Middle and upper class parents by-and-large practice “concerted cultivation” where they actively develop children’s talents and skills. These children tend to have social, negotiating, and planning skills that lend well to entrepreneurship.
Lower class parents by-and-large practice “natural ability” parenting where children are cared for yet their children do not receive the sense of entitlement that middle class children do.
Just one theory.
http://www.bsos.umd.edu/socy/People/Faculty/alareau.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parenting_practices
On another, related note: anyone that thinks that financial stability is obtained via taking a standard job or career path hasn’t been paying much attention.
We have reached a point where putting your professional, personal, and financial life in the confines of one desk or job site is much riskier than taking on the diversified interests that come with entrepreneurship.
When the person who’s career plan was to spend their entire working life at one company comes in one day and finds they are laid off, it’s understandably devastating to them.
When the person who has several products, clients, or other sources of income finds one day one of their clients went out of business, it’s certainly no fun, but it’s not the disruptive event that job loss is.
It is a myth that financial stability is found with a regular job. It is a myth that entrepreneurship has to mean taking risks with your time.
Anonymous Coward
on 11 Mar 09@NotARichKid: I understand your point that some people have more discretionary time than other people. Yet, I dispute your claim that only spoiled brats have discretionary time. There is no basis for that attitude. None. It’s a defeatist attitude at best.
I don’t know your situation. This is not a judgement on you. It’s just a set of facts to make it clear to other readers that one need not be a spoiled brat to have time to make for launching ones dream.
I know lots of kids with little to no money that made it through college without working 30 hours a week. I was one of them. My wife was one of them. What did we do? We found a college that accepted students on merit, regardless of ability to pay. We took out loans for the little amount we did have to pay. We kept costs ultra low (think no car, ramen noodles, cheap housing, all the normal college kid stuff).
We seemed to have more time to do what ever we wanted in college than any other time before or after. And no, we were not spoiled brats.
Just sayin’, something for people to think about.
Peter Cooper
on 11 Mar 09I agree with David for the general case, but for any of you who are considering being brain surgeons, civil engineers, or anyone else on whose life I might depend, please keep studying and please get As ;-)
Paul Scrivens
on 11 Mar 09Although I think the general message made in this entry is good, one must be careful about what is actually being said. DHH was very fortunate that things worked out as well as they did for him, but not everyone is meant to make it on their own. Sure our dream may be to start a business, become successful and enjoy the fruits of our labor, but some people just aren’t cut out to do so.
It’s always great to read about the successful people who didn’t go to college and tell you that college isn’t needed, but I could find many more people telling you that they regret not going to school. DHH can be proud of his low grades, but I hope nobody is taking this as a sign that they should ignore their own grades as well. The message here is if you are willing to make it happen you will find a way to make it happen. That doesn’t mean ignoring your classes, but it might mean cutting into your social life a bit.
The “problem” with 37signals writers is that they are too great at times and too motivational to the point where people will blindly follow. That is great for them, but I feel bad for the people here who can’t think for themselves and realize that every situation is different.
Be optimistic about your future, but throw in some realism as well. Dream big, but keep your options steady. Most of us that go for the touchdown won’t reach the endzone and I would hate to here more stories of people foolishing believing that just because they followed their dreams to skip class that now they can’t make it happen in the world due to their bad grades.
But as I said before the general message is great: you can make time happen and more often than not you have to sacrifice something to make that time that you didn’t want to before. The people who can handle that sacrifice are usually the ones that excel.
Phil Willis
on 11 Mar 09Great post.
Just what I needed to read.
For the people complaining about the time that kids take to raise. Did you not think about that before you had them?
Raising your kids might be your biggest opportunity to help the world. Your best-selling book can wait 10 or 20 years.
Thanks
Eric Gruber
on 11 Mar 09I tick off my wife on a regular basis with this from exercise guru Bill Phillips.
“You don’t find time, you make it.”
Anonymous Coward
on 11 Mar 09Talk about time management and maximizing room in your life for all your goals, Steve Pavlina details how he graduated in 3 semesters. He admits is was probably too fast because he didn’t have time for a girlfriend, but still: interesting study on how to challenge assumptions and fit more into life than most people think possible.
http://www.stevepavlina.com/articles/do-it-now.htm
“Do it now! Do it now! Do it now!”
Anonymous Coward
on 11 Mar 09... and he was no slacker at it either….
“In my final semester, I even held a full time job (40 hours a week) as a game programmer and served as the Vice Chair of the local Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) chapter while taking 37 units of mostly senior-level computer science and math courses. I graduated with a 3.9 GPA and also received a special award given to the top computer science student each year. One of my professors later told me that they had an easy time selecting the award recipient once it became clear to them what I was doing.”
TJ Stankus
on 11 Mar 09You make time for what you value.
Kevin Kaske
on 11 Mar 09That’s a good reminder! Don’t let school get in the way of World of Warcraft! Wait. That might not have been the message.
Emily
on 11 Mar 09Thank you for that David…
Procrastinator
on 11 Mar 09I really don’t want to make this a “could you solve my problem” post, but here goes…
I am 35+ and am very good at certain things. I have worked with startups a lot but more in a helper role. I have had a few failed starts at entrepreneurship and still nurturing dreams inside to make it big one day. I have several ideas and people have told me those are high quality.
The problem: 1. I am scared to actually start. 2. I can’t seem to find the time. and 3. I have 2 kids. My wife is always “neutral” about all my plans (read – not supportive/skeptical) and in order to help out, I have to spend a lot of time with the kids. My kids are also very demanding.
I feel that I am losing the battle and time against building my ventures. Its making me feel lousy. If you have any advice, please post. Thanks a ton!
Philip King
on 11 Mar 09@Procrastinator
I am 34+ with 3 children under 4, they are very demanding. I have a small web design business.
Is it everything I want it to be? No, but little by little I will make it what I want it to be.
You have to make the decision to go after your dream and work at it when you can. Right now I work on projects after the kids go to bed, 8-9pm and work until I am too tired to do anymore.
It has to be OK for no until I find a better way to schedule my time, for me family first.
Good luck!
Joel
on 12 Mar 09Thanks! I needed that ;-)
Iltomee
on 12 Mar 09True. I use that excuse sometimes, what an effin waste of time that is.
IDK
on 12 Mar 09I don’t know. Given the cost of college these days it seems pretty insulting to your parents to just say “Oh well i’ll just do the minimum required to pass so I can have the rest of the time to myself.” You have 4 years at an institution with every tool and trick and tip at your finger tips. You can screw around on your widgets after college on your own time. As far as i’m concerned you aren’t yet on your own time unless you are paying for it yourself. If you go to a university that costs $40,000 per year, its about 200$ per lecture. Its just not right in my mind to skip that to work on your personal projects.
Abhishek Patil
on 13 Mar 09Its really great post…
good for the school student if u can elaborate more how could some one manage there time (schedule ) how to take out time from the so called busy schedule and all so it will be grateful to you and will help a lot.
Jimmy Paige
on 13 Mar 09Great post!
I really needed that to pick up my open source project again.
- Jimmy
Farid Hadi
on 15 Mar 09This is so true! It’s so easy to make an excuse! If you want something you need to go get it! You need to go do it! I’m just starting to (re)realize this and this article was a great kick in the butt! Thanks!
SD
on 16 Mar 09@IDK That is a very valid point IMO. I’m actually glad there are still some people thinking about all the consequences of “making sacrifices”. Better think twice before you make other people sacrifice for your decisions.
And to kept telling that everyone can achieve everything as long as they try hard enough and make enough sacrifices – isn’t that some kind of fooling yourself, too?
Kris Black
on 16 Mar 09Thanks! Much needed.
Danny Mack
on 16 Mar 09As a serial entrepreneur, I have endless ideas and have always felt that I didn’t have enought time to launch them. I always come up with an idea, then spend forever learning best practices, flushing out the marketing plan, trying to payout every possible step beofre I ever take one. I have totally left that frame of mind for ‘09. I just read “The Art of The Start” by Guy Kawasaki, who basically abides by the Nike frame of mind…JUST DO IT.
I can thankfully say that in the last two weeks I have almost reached the launch of my new business. Start first and plan during…I can still flush out whatever I want, but by starting the biz first, I will make better decisions based on real experience.
For anyone thinking about starting a biz, just start it….sell a single product or service…then make your first decision based on your first sale, then repeat!
Good luck!
Joost Canters
on 16 Mar 09Bollocks. I can think of many people who tried and wanted the best they could and still didn’t get anywhere.
It’s pretty easy to say everyone else are suckers when you’re sitting at a throne already. Have you tried being a millionaire as a single mom with three children?
And on the student thing, and I’m talking Dutch university education here: try studying medicine without having a rich dad to pay for it. It’s not impossible, but it involves a bit more than not wasting time at WoW.
And I’m not even talking about the billions of people that live in slums, but hey, they don’t have internet so luckily they cannot read this Arbeit Macht Frei piece of fascist blogpost.
I suggest you get your head out of your ass and get with other people’s perspectives.
Xurxo Vidal
on 16 Mar 09Tough love, but very well put.
It really is true what they say:
“If you don’t have a plan for your time (and money) someone else does!”
I left my day job to start my own business and never looked back. The first year wasn’t easy, but it sure as hell beat working in an environment that I didn’t thrive in and now after over 2 years in business things are going great.
The point is that good things started to happen once my business partner and I committed to launching our own venture – till then it was just a “What if?” idea that could have went nowhere had we not taken action on it!
Darrin Keller
on 16 Mar 09I know exactly what you mean. I was working full time, going to school full time and still found time to join a triathlon club and work on my own side business.
Joost Canters
on 16 Mar 09Let me nuance that for a bit. I completely agree with the idea that reaching your dream takes a lot of hard work and sacrifices.
But you are saying here that people who don’t reach their dreams refuse to “be great” and are generally lazy. Well, that is actually fascist philosophy. To find this on a Northern Korean governmental blog wouldnt be much of a surprise, but here? Come on. You already had more chances when you left your mothers womb somewhere in the United States, being equipped with a more than average set of brains, than most people have in their entire life.
No problems with that, but don’t brag about how great you are, mister Heinemeier. I suggest you let your success speak for itself. It’s far more impressive.
Abdullah Anwar
on 16 Mar 09To pursue my dreams, I just dropped out.
Eric
on 16 Mar 09Thanks for that
Nadia
on 17 Mar 09damn right, couldnt agree more. I am a housewife ,so called full time mom of a pre-schooler, work as freelance consultant, cook our own food, do house chores and have recently started a food blog because i badly wanted that. i am not boring, i socialize, play suduko on my iphone, speak at Toastmasters and gossip on phone.
Xavier Petit
on 17 Mar 09Great post, It will make me rethinking my day and may be it is actually what I need ( to be honest I like excuses for myself : too old – before it was too young- , not clever enough, no time, daughters to care about…
Have a nice day and don’t be worried by bad and stupid critics anyway Xavier
This discussion is closed.