Prompt: I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite.
G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
Are people held back by their adherence to the beliefs of the majority or doing things in the conventional way?
[AN: original misspellings, grammar errors, and punctuation mistakes included on purpose]
Often people attach far too much meaning to other's comments. Naturally, it is a good idea to ask for advice from more experienced friends or mentors, but it's not necessary to follow it to the letter.
A part of learning comes from treating foreign experiences as though they were our own, and gaining from them accordingly. There isn't enough time to make all the mistakes ourselves, nor is there enough time to prove everything, either. It's enough to know that the stove is hot without having to touch it. Why bother working something out ourselves when someone already has the solution?
The computer industry is an excellent example. My laptop does things that could have been done 10 years ago; it also does them faster, cheaper, and with considerably better graphics. Of course, software engineers 10 years ago could have said "Ok, it works, lets do something else", but instead tried different approaches to better their products. Their next big step is the quantum computer, and there is no way to make it following any sort of conventional approach.
On the subject of ignoring advice, most (if not all) great inventions were originally scorned. The Wright brothers' heavier than air flying machine was viewed as a bit of a joke, an unpromising, if entertaining stunt. A general once pointed out that the airplanes were too untrustworthy and would never have any military applications. Coming from such an important figure, that should have been the end of military flight right there. Now, some of the most expensive pieces of military equipment are aircraft, or related to flight.
On a more personal note, not all people are the same, most can't even be said to be vaguely similar. There are different attitudes, aptitudes and approaches that are valid when it comes to solving any single problem. There's no point in following the beaten path when it doesn't lead to your destination. In fact, it's perfectly plausible that the reason something isn't coming out quite right is [underlined]because[/underlined] you're doing what everyone else has tried before. If you seem to be going nowhere, along with everyone else, step back, look around you, and steer clear of the tried-and-failed attempts. As the Cheshire Cat said: if you don't know where you're going, any route will take you.
AN: that was a practice essay I wrote in 25 minutes on that subject, in cursive. Should the actual essay be in cursive/printed or doesn't matter? For what it's worth, I write faster in cursive.
G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
Are people held back by their adherence to the beliefs of the majority or doing things in the conventional way?
[AN: original misspellings, grammar errors, and punctuation mistakes included on purpose]
Often people attach far too much meaning to other's comments. Naturally, it is a good idea to ask for advice from more experienced friends or mentors, but it's not necessary to follow it to the letter.
A part of learning comes from treating foreign experiences as though they were our own, and gaining from them accordingly. There isn't enough time to make all the mistakes ourselves, nor is there enough time to prove everything, either. It's enough to know that the stove is hot without having to touch it. Why bother working something out ourselves when someone already has the solution?
The computer industry is an excellent example. My laptop does things that could have been done 10 years ago; it also does them faster, cheaper, and with considerably better graphics. Of course, software engineers 10 years ago could have said "Ok, it works, lets do something else", but instead tried different approaches to better their products. Their next big step is the quantum computer, and there is no way to make it following any sort of conventional approach.
On the subject of ignoring advice, most (if not all) great inventions were originally scorned. The Wright brothers' heavier than air flying machine was viewed as a bit of a joke, an unpromising, if entertaining stunt. A general once pointed out that the airplanes were too untrustworthy and would never have any military applications. Coming from such an important figure, that should have been the end of military flight right there. Now, some of the most expensive pieces of military equipment are aircraft, or related to flight.
On a more personal note, not all people are the same, most can't even be said to be vaguely similar. There are different attitudes, aptitudes and approaches that are valid when it comes to solving any single problem. There's no point in following the beaten path when it doesn't lead to your destination. In fact, it's perfectly plausible that the reason something isn't coming out quite right is [underlined]because[/underlined] you're doing what everyone else has tried before. If you seem to be going nowhere, along with everyone else, step back, look around you, and steer clear of the tried-and-failed attempts. As the Cheshire Cat said: if you don't know where you're going, any route will take you.
AN: that was a practice essay I wrote in 25 minutes on that subject, in cursive. Should the actual essay be in cursive/printed or doesn't matter? For what it's worth, I write faster in cursive.
