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Curse of the times: Spectatoring

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I really need to cut back on my news.yc reading. I've found that it's easy just to become a spectator -- sitting around on the sidelines of everything that is going on, gabbing about my opinion of it.


In human sexual relations, there is a word "spectatoring" which describes becoming so engrossed with how things might be looking or happening that you completely forget how to participate in them.

I think this is true about a lot of things in life. There are people who go out there and do it, and then there is the majority of people who sit around and talk about doing it. The talking can become so engrossing that pretty soon there's no more "doing". You're just making opinions about how other people are doing things and playing Monday-morning quarterback. Life is easy when you're doing the same old things and playing the critic to others.

It's a fine line. Camaraderie and information sharing is critical, yet too much of anything is not a good thing. This is no black-and-white situation, and moderation is probably the key.

Best thing to do? Work on something. Anything. Everything you create in this world is unique and valuable, from a stupid blog entry (like this one) to a demonstration web application.

I remember watching some show years ago about rich people who owned these huge yachts. They interviewed one guy and he gave the audience a tour of all the cool stuff he had -- a computerized navigation system, rare wood floors, helipad, etc. One of the things he said struck me. He said, "My wife and I have always enjoyed creating things, and this was a good opportunity to create something of value to us."

Life is about creation, not consumption. This guy understood that all of his business career was about creating things of value, and he and his wife enjoyed that so much that they took those habits with them wherever they went.

I need to be more like that.

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This page contains a single entry by DanielBMarkham published on November 3, 2007 3:38 PM.

It's the Data, Stupid was the previous entry in this blog.

Programming with Python - the Other Guys is the next entry in this blog.

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