What are you building? →
Launch48, Harry Potter and JetCarStunts. An event for startup enthusiasts, a world famous character, and an iPhone app. What do the three have in common?
Image copyright Lego.com
I think that they’re all about building something. I had the opportunity to experience the three of them last week.
- Launch48 - building a webapp in 48hours that should make sense as a business;
- Harry Potter - building a captivating story around a character;
- JetCarStunts - building the skills of driving a hybrid between a car and a plane across 5 levels of difficulty (just learning, easy, intermediate, hard and impossible).
Building - what am I building? I asked myself this question back in 2008. Then, I wanted to explore how much of my activity is centered around consumption and how much of it is centered around creativity.
It’s an interesting exercise.
- you take a sheet of paper and split it into two columns;
- during the day/night, stop a couple of times and look at what you’re doing. When you’re building/creating something, you write it in the first column. Similarly, when you’re consuming something, you write it in the second column.
- at the end of one week you count how many times you built or consumed something.
Here are some examples that denote consumption:
- reading something
- watching a movie
- eating / drinking
And here are a couple examples that denote creativity:
- writing something
- drawing
- cooking
I believe that there should be a balance between consumption and creativity. When we consume something, we take something from the world. When we create something we give something to the world. Most of what you consume couldn’t have been available for you if others wouldn’t have created it. Learn to say thanks by giving back. Build something!
