On making things

I recently watched a video of a presentation by Seth Godin where he talks about making things, school, the industrial system and few other related topics. Several things stuck out to me in this presentation but mainly the idea of not being afraid that what you create will meet criticism.

When I come up with an idea for what I want to make, immediately there comes a flood of reasons why I shouldn’t make it. Maybe financial reasons, acceptance reasons, users or just time to do it. But according to his philosophy, there shouldn’t be any reason I can’t make that. If I need capital to start it, then get it. If I need time, find it. If I need approval, someone out there will. Will it be a huge success? Probably not. But maybe.

I wrote awhile ago about the heart of the entrepreneur and why we really do what we do. The gist is that we are really just looking for hope. We create and build something for the hope that it will make a difference. Not that it will, but the act of doing brings about enough glimmer of hope that it becomes worth it.

That seems appropriate when we think about anything people create. Every inventor has met criticism and people that did not agree with what they were building. Every company that changes things had to keep pushing through all the moments of near failure.

The things we make are no different.

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