Learning to ride the bike.

This may seem like a Nike commercial, but it’s a simple truth that we are only good at the things we don’t think about.

I don’t feel like I’m any special person. Any writer will tell you that the most important part of writing is the writing. That counts, no matter what kind of writing there is, from technical to fiction. Practice separates the successful from the novice.

It is also a truth that familiarity breeds contempt. You must accept that you will hate what you love, over and over again. Nevertheless, we must pursue it, for we can only love that which we cannot have, and we only hate that which we cannot be.

I loved making computer programs, from the first time I ever wrote a goto statement. I never thought I was any good at it until I got a job doing it. I’ve always felt insecure and not good enough, like people were secretly making fun of me for pretending to be grateful for other’s praise, since I was old enough to remember.

Be good at what you want to do. Stop thinking and just do it.

Written by John Nelson, who lives and works in Chattanooga, building things for Batch.sh.