Hello World!
A Hello World! program is often the first program written by people leaning to code. It is the most basic of the programs that one can write and it serves two purposes. The obvious one is that it gets you familiar with the syntax of the programming language and what it takes to write and run a computer program. But, most importantly it transforms you from being a non-programmer to a programmer and puts you on the path to make amazing software, hence changing the world.
As my martial arts instructor says, “The two hardest belts to achieve are the white belt and the black belt. The white belt because you had the courage to show up to the class and the black belt because you had the courage to stick with it”.
I knew I wanted to write on the internet, but a few questions kept cropping up in my head which held me back. What would I write about? Do I have anything interesting or original to say? Why would anyone read what I have to say? What if my article sucked?
After some research I figured that these are very common concerns and generally related to two psychological effects.
- The Curse of Knowledge, which made me think that just because I know something it must be widely known to everyone and not something interesting to write about.
- The Spotlight Effect, which made me over-analyze how much attention others would pay to my articles.
Overcoming the Curse of Knowledge
Over the last couple of months I spent a lot of time learning about Angel Investing and Player Ownership of Digital Assets. I found myself explaining these and my journey of exploration to my curious friends and colleagues on numerous occasions. This made me pause and think “I should write about this because this isn’t as widely known as I thought”. This also made me introspect and think about the journeys, lessons learnt and unique experiences I have had, which folks may find interesting.
Overcoming the Spotlight Effect
Being a lifelong learner, I came to the conclusion that it is better to try and fail and learn along the way than to not try and fail to learn. Also, people are too busy with their own lives and have no time to judge me.
So once I overcame my mental blockers and gathered the courage to show up to write, it was a no brainer to name the story “Hello World!”
Similar to how only writing a “Hello World” program does not qualify one for writing programs for the Mars Exploration Rovers, I am not holding my breath for a Pulitzer Prize nomination based on this article.
So what can you expect from me as an amateur writer? Frankly, not very much. But, I do have some stories lined up on Player Ownership, Virtual Economies, Angel Investing, Reducing Mean Time To Value, Customer Perspective and some fun stories from work.
Drop me a follow, so you can come along for the journey as we discover things together!
