Jan 28, 2010
Overcoming the Resistance
Of late I've found myself in the middle of a flood of big ideas, initiatives, committees, and goals. All of these are I think incredibly important. They're important for a variety of reasons - not the least of which is that my future livelihood depends greatly on their success. Others are the manifestations of principles that I hold in high regard or ideas that I believe truly innovate - that is, they improve delivery of business goals (as opposed to making your job easier).As I'm undergoing this awakening of ideas, I find myself starting to lack focus. Beyond that, I feel a creeping fear that I'm getting spread too thin and that, despite the best intentions, all of these great ideas will just slip away along with the great promises they held.
Serendipitously today at lunch I found myself listening to the 43 folders podcast with Merlin Mann interviewing Seth Godin. The topic? Shipping. That is, the only thing that matters is not your creative idea or your complaint or your ideals but what you actually produce. I totally agree. It's time to (as my project manager says) kill some stuff. After all, it's the only way we reap the benefits.
Now doing this isn't easy. There's a natural resistance to shipping. It's easy to see why - when you finish, you put yourself out there. You invite criticism. You feel like you're effectively saying "this is all I've got," and if others don't like it, well, what's left? How do you overcome this fear and get to that dream you have?
Well, as Seth argues, all the self-doubt and self-sabotaging is just survival instinct, and the first step to overcoming it is to understand that that's what it is. It's your lizard brain telling you to go hide, to get out while you still can, and that the indignity of being a cog in a machine is better than the indignity of being rejected.
Once your realize what's going on, you find that it's much easier to overcome it. You can quell those thoughts knowing that the worst case isn't as scary as your lizard brain thinks it is. This isn't about survival. You're not going to die.
There's more to this idea, though. Consistent creativity and consistent shipping takes a change in mindset. Seth details that change in this talk. This really is an almost systematic approach to projects, and it's one that I'll use as I evaluate and attempt projects going forward.
- Thrash at the beginning. Establish the goals and the features at the front end, while everyone's using the proper part of their brains.
- There are no changes after the thrashing session.
- Make darn sure you want to start.
- Everything you start, you finish.
That's an important change. Make sure it's worth starting. If it's worth starting, it's worth finishing. Even if it fails in the end, it's ok. The only way you'll know if it'll succeed is if you ship.
