Author: Ben Messick

Perfectionism Makes Me Insane

~ Ben Messick

Anne Lamott in Bird by Bird:

Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life, and it is the main obstacle between you and a s****y first draft. I think perfectionism is based on the obsessive belief that if you run carefully enough, hitting each stepping-stone just right, you won’t have to die. The truth is that you will die anyway and that a lot of people who aren’t even looking at their feet are going to do a whole lot better than you, and have a lot more fun while they’re doing it.

Addicted to Distraction

~ Ben Messick

Addicted to Distraction – NYTimes.com

I’ve retained my longtime ritual of deciding the night before on the most important thing I can accomplish the next morning. That’s my first work activity most days, for 60 to 90 minutes without interruption. Afterward, I take a 10- to 15-minute break to quiet my mind and renew my energy.

The article is a good reminder of how much so many of our lives are driven by the Internet. (As I sit in the waiting room of the dentist reading my phone.) The quote is a good reminder for me to some deep and important work done first thing in the morning.

❂ A Milestone

~ Ben Messick

MakePastie In the App Store

Today is the first day that I have an application available in the Apple app store. That means I actually “shipped” something. Pause for dramatic effect.

Learning to program in Swift has been fun, but challenging. All of the programming I have done in the past has been procedural in languages C or Pascal. But, it’s past time to update my skills and start thinking in objects.

After attempting and deciding the iTunes U Stanford Class, is too advanced for me, I joined Treehouse at end of September and have worked through their Swift and iOS tutorials. So far, so good. The slower pace and hand-holding is nice.

Am I on the road to be an Independent iOS Developer? No plans for that, but I am going to finish the Treehouse tutorials and see where to go from there.

The app is a native client for the pastie.org website. It is a free app with an iAd banner. You can find it on here.

Update:  A good exercise, but the app was removed when pastie was shuttered.