作者分享了自己从过去的自信和天真，到经历挫折后感到无知和停滞不前的过程。通过反思，作者认识到学习必须与实践相结合，否则就毫无意义。文章强调了放下自我评判、专注于作品本身的重要性，并指出每个人的贡献都是独特的。最终，作者接受了自己的不完美，将目标定为创作独特且有用的作品。

💡学习与实践相结合的重要性：作者认识到，如果不将所学知识付诸实践，那么学习就是浪费时间和精力。就像扔掉好的食物一样，这是一种道德上的错误。

🔄放下自我评判：作者指出，个人的感受是暂时的，没有人真正在意自己的失败。公众形象并不代表真实的自己，因此外界的评判并不重要。

🌟专注于作品的独特性和实用性：作者强调，作品本身就是重点，每个人的贡献都是独特的。只要作品对他人有用，无论是否是杰作，都值得去做。

🔄接受不完美：作者庆幸自己失去了过去的自信，因为那只会让自己认为自己是对的，甚至很伟大。现在，作者的目标是创作出独特且有用的作品，而不是追求完美。

🔄重新定义成功：作者认为，成功不在于是否是杰作，而在于是否享受创作过程，以及作品是否对他人有用。每个人都可以有自己的独特视角，为生活的大交响乐贡献自己的力量。

Years ago, I was so confident and so naive.I was sure I was right and everyone else was wrong.

After I sold my company, I felt ready to do something new, so I started to learn.But the more I learned, the more I realized how little I knew and how dumb-lucky I had been.

I continued learning until I felt like an absolute idiot.By then I was paralyzed, unable to create anything new.

I’d start to make new things, but then see how stupid they revealed me to be, so I’d stop.I lost all confidence.I spent a few years completely stuck.

Eventually, some new thoughts helped:

Learning without doing is wasted.If I don’t use what I learn, then it was pointless!How horrible to waste those hundreds of hours I spent learning, and not turn it into action.Like throwing good food in the trash, it’s morally wrong.This isn’t about me.How I feel in this moment doesn’t matter — it will pass.Nobody’s judging me because nobody’s thinking of me.They’re just looking for ways to improve their own lives.The public me is not the real me anyway, so if they judge my public persona, that’s fine.The work is the point, and my work is unique.If I can do something that people find useful, then I should.It doesn’t matter if it’s a masterpiece or not, as long as I enjoy it.I’ve got my own weird angle on things that’s a useful counter-melody in the big orchestra of life.

I’m glad my old confidence is gone because it thought I was right, and maybe even great, but not anymore.

Now I aim to make my work — my little contribution to the world — just unique and useful.