“There’s this great story from the book “Art and Fear”, that's very appropriate here:” (comment)
recommended by 1 user | 2013 | sivers on: I'm learning to code by building 180 websites in 180 days.… | procrastination | original thread |
sivers on Jul 24, 2013 | on: I'm learning to code by building 180 websites in 180 days. Today is day 115 | view on HN

There’s this great story from the book “Art and Fear”, that's very appropriate here:

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The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups.

All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality.

His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work of the “quantity” group: 50 pounds of pots rated an “A”, 40 pounds a “B”, and so on.

Those being graded on “quality”, however, needed to produce only one pot — albeit a perfect one — to get an “A”.

Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity.

It seems that while the “quantity” group was busily churning out piles of work-and learning from their mistakes — the “quality” group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.

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Advance congratulations to Jennifer. This is amazing.

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bdunks Mar 13, 2026 | on: A willingness to look stupid is the most underrated moat in… | context

There is a book called Art & Fear which explores this in depth. A quick read and worth it for people that don’t consider themselves artists.

It has a great story (allegory) about a pottery class, which was shared here in the past. Six sentences. Worth a read:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6097663