You don’t need a plan to begin. You need to be willing to make a mess.

When you learn something new, when you're in the process, you don't know what you're doing. You're figuring it out. And following stringent rules—needing everything to be tidy and in order—can get in the way of your progress.

This isn’t just theory—it’s how I work. My blog has become an art studio.

This codebase has paint buckets all over—a splattered room, brushes scattered everywhere. There are AI-generated scripts, hastily tested features, and most commits go straight to main.

It’s not reckless but exploratory. I give myself space to break things, because that’s how I discover what works.

Knowing when to apply rules and when to simply make a mess is a sign of artistic maturity. Strict rules constrict us in the early stage, especially when we are trying to figure out the process.

Once we figure out a process—a way of doing things, a method of creating—then is the time to start applying creative restraint.

We can repeat a way of doing things for throughput. When we know what kind of painting inspires us, we can hone in on the techniques—the choice of canvas, the type of brushstrokes—that can get us practiced in that craft, that help us build a body of work worth sharing.

We need room to be messy. We need time to figure out our process before applying restraint.

Let the mess teach you. When something clicks—then shape the process. But don’t rush the order. Throw paint first.