Learning Python

My 10 year old son Ben is learning to program. He started lessons from the Internet and has graduated to a Python book. The book is specifically on programming Python for games. Having a game as a goal, makes it interesting for him. From his first program after Hello World! he has been programming simple games.

On one particular occasion, I recall Ben getting really upset because he could not figure out why his program was not working in the way he expected. In this one life lesson, he progressed more than any prior programming lesson before. He had to figure it out. The program wasn't going to fix itself and to reach the goal he would have to put in the effort. In the end, he came to realize that the code he wrote was not exact enough. He missed details that resulted in bad code and the inability for his game to execute. When he got into the details of the code he had written, he had probably 10 corrections to make, whereas he could find none to correct before.

Ben could have given up. And quite honestly, I thought he was going to. He did need some help and encouragement, but ultimately Ben knew he had to work through the problem to get to his goal - a game programmed by himself. If Ben had no goal, he would have swayed from the difficult path and just found something easier to code. To reach a goal is to achieve. However, I also maintain that the simple act of setting the goal is also an achievement. When things aren't executing as you expect, sometimes that simple goal can offer you the persistence you need to push through difficult times.

My son Ben learned more about programming in Python this day than he would have if there were no problems to work through. But what is even more fantastic, is he was exposed to the more macro lesson of only getting to the goal by persisting through the difficulties. It was a good reminder for me.

The Classics

Humphrey Bogart, Jimmy Stewart and John Wayne are some of my all-time favorite actors. By today's standards, their movies aren't flashy with computerized special effects or budgets in the unheard of millions. They just brought raw classic acting to the screen. They were loved for their own styles, each different from one another. Yet all of them legendary leading men. Every now and then, I pop an old classic on and enjoy simpler times by the likes of films such as The Maltese Falcon, The Man who shot Liberty Valence, or El Dorado.

These days I myself occasionally feel like a classic. A throwback from days gone by. I am part of a startup community and I am over the age of 40 years old. This is counter culture to the entrepreneurs of today. There is an expected formula to follow for big box office hits and large startup successes today. My profile doesn't fit, simply because I am considered too old and haven't done it before now. Yet the actors I mentioned are considered iconic, even to this day. They are legends who proved themselves time and again to defy the odds in film after successful film.

• Humphrey Bogart was short and had a lisp, flunked out of Phillips Andover and didn't break into the A-list of actors until the age of 42. Yet in 1999, the American Film Institute named him the Greatest Male Star in cinematic history.
  
• Jimmy Stewart was a boyish-looking, skinny unlikely leading man some have referred to as even biographically boring. Yet he is one of the more highly decorated award winners in film history starring in more than 100 films and considered one of the more beloved leading male actors ever.
  
• John Wayne began his acting career as an injured football player losing his scholarship and with an unlikely screen name of Marion Morrison. However, he went on to act in a reported more than 175 films. His work on the Searchers has been singled out by filmmakers and actors alike as the greatest performance by an actor on film, ever. When you want to watch an epic western, there is no equal.
  

Each of these men in spite of their drawbacks were reportedly driven, hard-working men of high integrity. These men of the past are inspiring to me. They give me the courage to be my own self and take all of my own experience and pour it into the stage I am given. I may not hit it big right away. My first few startup efforts might not be blockbuster hits. However, perhaps with persistence my own Oscar awaits. I share the highly driven, hard-working and high integrity philosophy of these leading men. And if I am discarded by some because I do not fit the profile, I am all the more fueled to become a leading man in my own style just as these men did.

Potholes

Early morning is a great time for me to think. And this morning I was thinking about all of the many potholes the road to any worthwhile destination has. Every long road to a destination has twists and turns, but the twisting and turning continue to carry you forward towards your destination. Some might even find the turns exhilarating and full of excitement as they press the pedal even harder and lean into the curves.

But the potholes are a different story. They slow us down. The deeper ones are uncomfortable to move past. The ones some are faced with may even suggest you turn around, change your course, or even head back home. The thing about potholes are they came into being as a result of a road traveled before. Someone else pushed past this point, in fact many have. It was their tires who widened the hole and deepened the obstacle.

As I think about my own startup experience so far, I am reminded of the ups and downs. One day having leaned into a curve and the rush of the feeling coming out of it. Other days in which I rattled my self over a pothole and came out sour at the obstacle. I am reminded this morning to look beyond the road and at the scenery, and therefore gain enjoyment from the ride itself.