The impossibility of publishing the first blog entry.

Q. How do you ship stuff consistently that you are proud of?
A. [By Seth Godin] By shipping stuff consistently that you are not proud of.

It is this answer that has brought me here today. It is this answer that is forcing me to publish this blog today.

Am I ready? Of course not.

Do I feel good about this? Obviously not.

But as Seth said in the same talk: I don’t ship because it is ready, I ship because it is Tuesday.

So, I am intent on publishing this today. Why am I doing this? Why do I need to do this? One, because I feel like shit when I don’t. I have been delaying this for so long now, that I can’t even look at myself and say that I’ll publish. I already have some ten entries written down which I have never published. It’s crazy.

Seth talks consistently about shipping. Nothing matters unless it is in a Fedex box on the way to the customer. Clicking the ‘Publish’ button on this blog is what shipping comes down to for me.

Shipping is the end game. But, it is scary as hell to do this. It is tough. I don’t think there is anything scarier than shipping, especially for a creative [I consider myself one, despite all the imposter syndrome that Resistance creates inside me].

Today, I want to talk to you about why shipping is so difficult to do this. Especially, the first time.

Shipping is when Resistance is at its most horrendous. Because once I publish, I am a publisher. I am a writer. I am no longer an aspiring writer. There is no going back. But if Resistance can convince me to delay pressing this button, then the status quo would remain. Then I will still be an aspiring writer and an aspiring freelancer.

It’s easier to put this off for later than to publish it. If I put it off, nothing bad happens; apparently. And that is the key. Nothing bad happens if I don’t send them out.

The other side of the puzzle is what would happen if I do send it out. There might be the dejection of having no one read your article at all. This worse than not sending the mail in the first place. The first one, you can blame yourself and kick yourself. In the second one, you feel rejected. Big difference.

Then you are afraid that people might comment negatively on what you put out or might unsubscribe from your list. Again, the feeling of rejection.

But there is something that you are even more afraid of. And that is the fact that you may actually be read and be appreciated and be asked to write more. The fear of success. This is a difficult concept to understand. If you understand Resistance and self-sabotage, and the excessive need of the mind to maintain the status quo stasis, then you may get a hint.

What’s the trick then? How do you actually publish?

The motivation to changing the status quo seldom comes from ‘shoulds’. It comes from urgency and the fear of missing out.

So, as I press publish here, I hope that you can ship your stuff. I would be delighted to experience it.