A friend of mine recently shared an article called ‘If You Don’t Like It, Make Your Own’ is a Terrible Argument'. I was drawn to the headline because (A) cataloging terrible arguments is a hobby of mine, and (B) ‘If you don’t like it, make your own’ might as well be my life’s motto.
I spent a year or two in college getting turned down for (it felt like) every opportunity I applied for, until finally, with the help of some very encouraging people, I realized that if I wanted to see something happen, I could make it happen myself. Nobody was going to produce that play, so I did. Nobody was going to organize that concert, so I did. (Not by myself, obviously, but you get what I mean.) This really shouldn’t have been a revelation to me, but it was. And after a while, I discovered that the things I did after getting turned down were often better than the the things I got turned down from. Go figure.
I spent a year or two in college getting turned down for (it felt like) every opportunity I applied for, until finally, with the help of some very encouraging people, I realized that if I wanted to see something happen, I could make it happen myself. Nobody was going to produce that play, so I did. Nobody was going to organize that concert, so I did. (Not by myself, obviously, but you get what I mean.) This really shouldn’t have been a revelation to me, but it was. And after a while, I discovered that the things I did after getting turned down were often better than the the things I got turned down from. Go figure.
Thankfully, I don’t get turned down quite so much anymore, and when I do it’s a little bit easier knowing that I won’t just be sitting on my hands waiting for someone else to present me with my next opportunity. If no opportunities present themselves, I can make my own. It’s very a liberating state of mind.
The paradigm of “If you want it to happen, make it happen” is the ethos behind the “Maker’s movement” (which is basically a new incarnation of the much older ‘DIY’), and I love it. If I could go back in time and tell my younger self one thing, this would be it. If I could choose one thing to teach every person in the world, it would be this: Don’t wait for someone else to give you permission to succeed. We live in a day and age where, more than ever before, it’s possible to ‘make your own’. Instructional YouTube videos, Wiki-How, Kickstarter, and more new resources popping up every day. There’s no excuse for not going out and making your own, if that’s what you want to do. It's a great time to be alive.
But what does all of this have to do with the article my friend posted? You’ll find out… in Part 2!
The paradigm of “If you want it to happen, make it happen” is the ethos behind the “Maker’s movement” (which is basically a new incarnation of the much older ‘DIY’), and I love it. If I could go back in time and tell my younger self one thing, this would be it. If I could choose one thing to teach every person in the world, it would be this: Don’t wait for someone else to give you permission to succeed. We live in a day and age where, more than ever before, it’s possible to ‘make your own’. Instructional YouTube videos, Wiki-How, Kickstarter, and more new resources popping up every day. There’s no excuse for not going out and making your own, if that’s what you want to do. It's a great time to be alive.
But what does all of this have to do with the article my friend posted? You’ll find out… in Part 2!
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