Oliur’s most recent newsletter was titled “just do the thing”, and it made me want to share my take on this idea.
A lot of people overcomplicate getting started with something new, whether it be starting a YouTube channel or learning to code.
You get excited, start researching “everything you should know” and, at first, feel a sense of optimism.
This stage is called “uninformed optimism”, where you haven’t realized just how much you don’t know about the thing.
Quickly you transition into “informed pessimism” and realize it’s not going to be as easy as you thought to get started.
The third stage, and the one most people quit at, is the Valley of Despair.
To get good at something you’ll likely spend years here refining your craft until you reach “Informed Optimism”.
This is where you’ve become good at the thing by sticking with it.
The trap you want to avoid is repeating stages 1-3 with multiple opportunities, or repeating it for the same ones.
To get started you don’t have to know anything, but you have to enjoy learning as you go.
There’s never a right moment to start, or push through, so you might as well do it now.
iPhone 16 Pro Max vs S24 Ultra
I’ve been using the iPhone 16 Pro Max for over a month now and thought it was about time to compare these two phones.
Things I’ve found interesting
links to valuable stuff I thought was worth sharing
New M4 Max MacBook Pro - I bought this laptop right away and can’t wait to review it. My M3 Pro was a great laptop but it’s been struggling to handle editing (with other programs open at the same time) without constant freezes. I’m excited to give Blender and Unreal Engine a try on it.
Ultra Dynamic Sky - A sick sky and weather system for Unreal Engine. It was an instant buy when I saw the demo video, it will save tons of time creating scenes for some of the game projects I’m working on.
The Key to Writing Freakishly Good Dialogue | Video Essay - I’ve been researching game writing for a small game I want to make and this video taught me so much about writing in general.
A Week of Progress on my Indie Open-World RPG - I always find it interesting to see other dev’s workflows and what they’re working on.
Have a great week.
Cole
P.S. If you found this letter helpful, please consider sharing it with a friend :)
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