Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

February 29, 2008

Welcome, new visitor! My name is Ari, the man behind Aries9. Here I share my thoughts on music and life, so you can get to know me and my music. Thanks for visiting!

Well, this week I was going to launch a monthly CD giveaway mailing list. So I was working on setting up a new mailing list, modifying the existing sign up pages, etc…. and came to a halt. Wait a minute.

My web site can’t accommodate this. I can’t make my web site put up one more page.

Well, I could. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with putting up another web page.

But that would not be right. And that’s because my web site is a bit of a mess. I actually haven’t put a lot of thought into the Aries9 web site yet. I was making up designs and layouts as I went for each page. And that’s all right, I really didn’t have time last fall, and I had to get up something.

But I just got to a point where adding another page to this pile of loose lumber would only add to the mess. Then it’ll take a bit longer, later, to go back in and organize.

So, I decided to take a step back, and redesign my site. I did strike a pretty good look and feel for the site, and that won’t change dramatically — it’s more about how I organize the information, and more importantly, how I structure it, so that the structure can hold more pieces down the road when I need to put them in.

People often confuse this, and I’m guilty as well, but moving forward doesn’t always mean actually putting one foot in front of the other. Sometimes you have to step back, in order to take the next few steps in the right directions. It’s like crouching down and going lower before jumping. It’s not a straight line on a graph — it has more peaks and valleys. And that’s OK.

Once I grasped this concept of two steps forward, one step back, then I became more comfortable moving backward in these situations. On a larger scale, I feel the same way about things like the economy or the music industry. Neither is in good shape right now, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s going to crumble and die. After a period of growth, there comes a period of coming down a little. That’s all normal and necessary. If you don’t panic and maintain your steady gaze on the vision of growth, things will pick back up eventually.

I’m now looking forward to resuming my movement forward, once I’m finished stepping back.

Filed under: Ari, Reflections |