Ship it.

For years I have been reading Seth Godin’s blog. He posts daily. Some of the posts are really really good and some are more in the alright range of things. But every single day he creates and ships. It’s inspiring.

Over the years he has written about the importance of shipping your work. Ship the work so the work can get better. Ship the work so your people can benefit from the work. Not everyone will like the work. That is to be expected. Ship it.

For years I have not quite understood the part about shipping so it can get better. But I keep reading. And I keep writing. And I keep shipping here on the blog.

Then, last week I finally understood.

I wrote something (not for the blog). I revised it many times. I was happy enough with it. I thought it was pretty good and it would reach the people I wanted to reach. The initial feedback from the person publishing was “it’s too long, too many words.” It was revised and pared down a little. It was published.

I was excited. I read it. It had too many words. Too long.

I finally understood. I couldn’t quite see it until I shipped it. Then, once it was in print, I could. Lightbulb-aha-moment. The next piece will be better because I know how to tweak it now.

If I were my own best friend I would tell myself to follow the advice of someone who knows, ship the work. Make it really really good. Make it as good as I can. Then ship it. Then make it better.

Thank you Seth Godin. https://seths.blog/