When do you realized that knowing too much is too much? With broader knowledge you have, it is constantly harder to start even simple single thing fast. You plan, you design, you start. But many times you end up doing nothing because you find your idea to be too complicated to realize. It is all because of this experience and assumptions of how things need to be done that we sometimes don’t do them at all rather than doing them wrong for the first time.
When I was on secondary school I just sit down and start a web site for students to share papers and home exercises online (studentske.sk). Didn’t know anything about search engine optimization, marketing, usability, design… Just came sit down and did it the best way as I could at that time.
It turned out to be very good. I improved the site week by week. I learned so much while building it. I learned about PHP, site navigation, different styles etc… After two years studentske.sk became the most visited student site in Slovakia. It was just great, it was spontaneous.
But now I would not be able to do such a site again. Too much knowledge, too much willing to do things right for the first time… too much wanting it to be perfect. You think that to make site perfect it must be combination of good marketing, perfect design, quality content, usable navigation, SEO, user experience and interaction…
Putting a simple goal ahead and doing the first step, being foolish and having a clear mind is the only way to start something. Forget about all the things that can occur or need to be done. Focus on one thing, make the first step and you can improve the rest - step by step while you will be walking the stairs.
