Tag: Philip Dodson

That one voice

Posted on by philipdodson

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We create something, we refine it, we polish and then we share it with the world. We have that feeling of accomplishment and pleasure in having finished it and shipped it.

We have overcome our doubting voices and then we hit the ‘publish’ ‘send’ ‘tweet’ and we wait. Or we do a talk and the audience clap and then we wait for the feedback.

We get a like, a favourite, a re-tweet and we’re happy. We get a lovely DM to say ‘really loved your talk’ or ‘a great post’ in the comments.

Often though, what we are really waiting for is the negative feedback, there must have been someone who didn’t like it.

Then it comes, either a comment after our talk or a negative feedback, a critic.

Then we go off into a spiral of doubt and we say I knew ‘I shouldn’t have said that’ or ‘included that section’, and so the list goes on.

There may have been 25 likes and one ‘dislike’, but it is the one dislike that we focus on in our heads.

Two things I have learnt.

1. not everyone is going to like our stuff, and that’s great as we are not here to create bland stuff for the masses.

2. the one voice does not matter, as the critics are sitting on the sidelines, while you are in the ring taking the ‘punches’ and being brave enough to do it.

Give it a go

Posted on by philipdodson

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It’s funny how we live one life in our heads often, and then a separate one outside, in the real world.

So we have lots of thoughts, and we almost live out a dual life in our heads. When it comes to actually doing that thing out loud in the real world, we hesitate, and often just carry on with that thought in our heads.

Sometimes that’s ok, as we all at times have thoughts, that on reflection weren’t the right ones, and it is good that we do not share every single thing with the world.

But conversely, some of our very best stuff just remains in our heads, never giving a public airing. That is a shame, but it is how a good deal of life goes, for a good many people.

Imagine how many people went to their graves, perhaps with some of the greatest things that human kind could have created, and they never happened.

What a different world it could have been.

What if Sir Tim Berners-Lee, who came up with the internet, hadn’t bothered, what if Ernest Rutherford, who split the atom, hadn’t split it? What if…the list could be endless, and you are potentially the next ‘what if’ person. None of us realise what we are truly capable of and we only find out by doing it, by giving it a go and that is it.

Giving it a go, otherwise all that unused potential in all of us will go to the grave and rest there for all eternity.

Go out and try something new, something different.