Dirt, Doubt, and the Ride Back Up

*Reposted from an article on LinkedIn

Success takes courage, yes—but the deeper truth is that it demands the courage to be vulnerable.

To succeed, you have to share yourself openly. Ignore the mud flung your way. Stand firm against the naysayers.

The 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘢 takes all the risk. And that’s exactly what risk is:

𝗘𝗫𝗣𝗢𝗦𝗨𝗥𝗘

Unshielding your soft spots. Stepping deliberately into the line of fire.

It means surrendering the illusion of safety and trusting that your skills, your grit, and a fair shake of luck will carry you through alive.

Your business, your art, your creation—it’s 𝘆𝗼𝘂.

It’s your baby. Of course, you don’t want to throw it to the wolves.

But you must.

“Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings.”

— Stephen King, 𝘖𝘯 𝘞𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨: 𝘈 𝘔𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘪𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘳𝘢𝘧𝘵

A bird kept forever in the nest will never fly. Overprotect your children, your friends, your creations, and they will never soar.

𝗙𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀.

What most people label “failure,” engineers simply call iteration.

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘴 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵.

Think prototypes, not polished final products.

Build the quick-and-dirty version. Launch it fast. The sooner it’s out there, the sooner the real-world data starts pouring in.

Break things. Push limits. Discover exactly where the edges are.

Failing isn’t a detour—it’s the goal. When 𝘆𝗼𝘂 learn the breaking points firsthand, 𝘆𝗼𝘂 gain unbreakable confidence in whatever comes next.

🧪 𝗧𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴… 🧪 𝗧𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴…

Step into the lab like a scientist:

💡 Start with an idea

🏗️ Build the first gloriously crappy version

🚀 Launch it into the wild

🤯 Watch it crash and burn

📝 Take ruthless notes

🔨 Build the next one—slightly better

Think of a video game. You die, you respawn, you try again. Each death teaches you one more way 𝘯𝘰𝘵 to do it. It stings for a moment, but it doesn’t end you. You cool off, hit continue, and go again—𝗮𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝗮𝗹, not a flawless run.

Share

Every attempt inches you forward.

What if the real success isn’t in the final win, but in the trying itself?

The true goal is simple: 𝗱𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴. Have fun along the way. Create—whether it turns out good, bad, or downright awful. The quality isn’t the point. 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝗹 is.

𝗘𝗠𝗕𝗥𝗔𝗖𝗘 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗨𝗖𝗞

Every rider, athlete, musician, coder, knitter, mechanic—anyone who ever got good at something—started by being terrible.

If you’re good now, you damn well didn’t begin that way.

The secret is a willing, even eager, embrace of being bad. That willingness is the only guarantee you’ll ever get better.

You must fail to improve. Perfection doesn’t exist—only progress does.

Bad art has to come first. It lays the foundation everything stronger stands on.

Each clumsy, flawed version of you stacks up—brick by ugly brick, mistake by mistake—until the capable version emerges.

Keep your eyes on a goal. Let every failure teach you what doesn’t work, so you move closer to what does.

𝙏𝙤 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙩, 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙪𝙚, 𝙩𝙤 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙨𝙝—𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙢𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙠.

𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙠, 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙢𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙗𝙚 𝙫𝙪𝙡𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚.

It always circles back to that.

I love capitalism for one simple reason: at its heart, it gives you permission to make something you care about and offer it to people who want it.

Yes, greedy people can twist it into something ugly. They can monopolize and exploit. That’s real.

But it’s equally real that you and I can still decide what the world needs—or what we’re burning to give it. We have free tools: social media, Canva, YouTube, Substack, LinkedIn. We can put our work out there and let the right people find us. There are open paths available. Some might be hard to travel, but with the right shoes and proper training, you can summit \- maybe sooner than you think.

The internet, like money or alcohol, amplifies who you already are. It’s addictive by design, engineered to steal your time and attention. Navigating it without losing yourself is hard.

But it’s possible. Train your algorithm. Use blockers. Walk away when you need to. Or master the game and bend it to your advantage.

𝗠𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘃𝗲 “𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀” 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝗼𝘅𝗲𝘀:

1. 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗱, 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗰𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗻𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘀-𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗴𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗱

2. 𝗧𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗼𝗶𝗰 𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗼𝗺 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗯𝗼𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗹𝗲𝘀

3. 𝗗𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘆 𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁

To me, It’s 𝗮𝗿𝘁.

You’re bringing something into the world that didn’t exist before. You’re creating life from nothing.

Creation is art.

And like raising a child, it costs sleep, makes a mess that lasts years, and leaves shit everywhere for longer than you think possible.

But when it’s done, you’ve done something most people never will: you made something real, on your terms, to the absolute best of your ability.

So tell me—

What will you put into the world?

What are you willing to create?

You’ll have to be brave.

You’ll have to be vulnerable.

Greatness always demands sacrifice.

But for those willing to pay the price, the ride is amazing, painful, and profoundly fulfilling.

L𝗲𝘁 𝗺𝗲 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴.

P.S. While this reads like a directive to you, I’m writing to myself. This is a reminder to the parts of me that want to give up and keep hiding. We are multitudes. Often I’ve been a coward for things that matter to my heart. Can I handle the slings and arrows thrown at my ‘baby’? Will I survive the criticism of my art/myself? Will I continue to let it stop me?*