In Over Your Head

Everything is Stupid and Easy To Do



With no experience yesteday, I carved my first pumpkin.

I used this website, found through Google, which teaches you the how to, best practices, what to avoid– everything about pumpkin carving. They even let you print out over 240 stencils for $10. I was instantly sold, and silently noted that somebody was likely making a good living off it. Amazing.

There’s a website out there for pretty much everything you want to do. If there isn’t, there’s probably a book. I just bought about 4 real estate books, on Maya‘s advice, and I’m learning about that now. This week I’m also teaching myself to juggle and slowly watching Khan Academy‘sFinance playlist.

Those of us with growth mindsets believe that, given the right tools, we can do anything. For us, the web is the most amazing thing ever. It increases our competence and knowledge every day we open our curiosity to it. It’s incredible. And once you have the how-to, the skillset, and the drive, everything is stupid and easy to do. Nothing is impossible.

When I was a kid I was afraid to look stupid and make mistakes. But if I had the web I would have a lot more skills than I have now.

If someone in your childhood had given you a book titled How To Do Anything, what would you have done? Everything, right? Exactly.

You have this book in front of you right now. Learn everything. Do it now.

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9 responses to “Everything is Stupid and Easy To Do”

  1. Sandi Amorim Avatar
    Sandi Amorim

    Wow! What a magical, brilliant future would exist for kids if we told them they could do anything vs. encouraging them to do what’s expected, what they’re good at, etc.

    And as for us big kids, there’s still time, and if we can do anything the question becomes what do we really want to do? Then go do that.

    Reply
  2. Azzurra Camoglio Avatar
    Azzurra Camoglio

    I agree and, as a woman who had in the past exactly the same fear of making mistakes as you, I often wonder what kind of teenager I would have been in a 2.0 time.
    But now the most important question is: do you have a picture of the pumpkin?

    Reply
    1. Julien Avatar
      Julien

      lol, I do. I did two and my favourite is the day of the dead skull. I’ll upload it later.

      Reply
  3. Michael Miller Avatar
    Michael Miller

    Absolutely, brilliantly true. No more sending away for your Charles Atlas guide to body building so other kids don’t kick sand in your face. Now it’s an App! Although, there is cause to fear the dilettante. I think it depends on your personality because it is tempting to just graze and, as the saying goes, know just enough to be dangerous.

    Reply
  4. Madeline Avatar
    Madeline

    It’s all about if you are curious ENOUGH!

    Reply
  5. Azzurra Camoglio Avatar
    Azzurra Camoglio

    @Julien: Great!
    I’m looking forward to see it.

    Reply
  6. Claudia Petrilli Avatar
    Claudia Petrilli

    I’m very late to this post but want to chip in nonetheless.

    When I first came to Canada I had never carved a pumpking or had a thanksgiving dinner in my live.

    On my first Halloween I went to the grocery store, bought the biggest pumpkin I could carry and googled instructions on how to carve it. I had a grand time doing it and it came out pretty good. Got lots of compliments from my neighbours.

    Same thing with my first adventure with a thanksgiving turkey.

    I’ll tell you a secret. I kinda feel jealous (well, not too much) of this generation. I can just imagine the things I could have accomplished had I had the net when I was growing up. But then again, I’m catching up pretty fast!

    Reply
  7. Amy Humphrey Avatar
    Amy Humphrey

    I’ve just been thinking these past weeks that the web is the most amazing thing ever. I’ve accidentally reinforced that belief today by spending the past couple hours reading your blog posts after seeing a link on Twitter. Amazing!

    Reply
  8. Mike Avatar
    Mike

    Try writing a hit song. Find a cure for a disease. Regurgating information isn’t a sign of skill. Skillful is being able to create it yourself. Don’t be like a lemming. The most critical information isn’t found online. It’s found deep in college libraries. Most information is not of good quality. Most books are useless twisted and worthlss like the Television we watch.

    Reply

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