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by pdelbarba
2287 days ago
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These are all moonshot projects. If someone can come up with a creative and simple ventilator that relies entirely on 3d printed and massively available electronic parts they can save a lot of lives and it appears to be entirely possible. If they don't produce anything of value, at least they tried. |
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I recognize the optimism and idealism in this way of thinking and feel bad about countering it, but as someone who has taken on a number of “if we fail at least we tried!” ideas over the years, this is a recipe for burnout.
Enthusiasm and passion are valuable and scarce resources: we don’t have an unlimited amount. Each time we take on a project and really throw ourselves into it, we’re investing a bit of our limited passion supply. If the project works out and makes an impact, we get a return on that investment, and feel the motivation to take on even bigger projects! But if you throw yourself body and soul into too many projects that totally fail, you’ll eventually run out of steam to keep going, and you may not even see it coming until it’s too late.
To continue the investment analogy: I recommend folks invest themselves in projects with an eye to risk. “A weekend project that will almost certainly go nowhere, but could go somewhere” is a small investment, sure go ahead. A months long grind with a startup better come with a plausible strategy for success that doesn’t hinge on something unlikely.
Invest well, friends.