@zachpogrob
Obsession beats discipline - go all-in on your craft until you either die or get reborn.
Tutorial Existence as Red Flag
If there is a tutorial for what you are doing, you should probably do something else. Real innovation and competitive advantage exist beyond documented paths.
Decision Rule
When evaluating a project or business idea, check if someone could build it by following a YouTube tutorial. If yes, differentiation will be extremely difficult. The absence of tutorials indicates either a bad idea or a genuinely novel one.
How It Works
Tutorials emerge for repeatable, commoditized activities. By the time tutorials exist, hundreds of others can do the same thing. Competitive advantage requires going where documentation has not yet reached.
Failure Modes
Ignoring tutorials when learning fundamentals - they exist for a reason
Confusing difficulty of finding information with value of the project
Novel for the sake of novel without underlying value
Example Decision
“Checking if your startup idea can be built by following a YouTube series. If the entire product is tutorial-able, either find a novel angle or find a different idea.”