Open up your mind and say, ahh...

My language isn’t safe for work on this post. Save criticism for another post. In this case, I need to use this word.

Seth Godin is right to tell you to ship. Get your stuff out. Make something. DO something. It’s important. And waiting until something is perfect isn’t an option.

Putting out crap isn’t all that useful, either. There’s a big difference between “ship” and “shit,” and in the latter case, I’d say the difference is one you already know about in your gut.

The Balance

Let me be clear: it’s quite often okay to put out something that’s “good enough.” What isn’t okay is trying to get something out to your audience or community that just doesn’t get anything done. And by the way, the “it” in this case is whatever your “product” is. If it’s a blog post and you’ve just thrown it together, you know that. If it’s a speech, then writing it an hour before you give it is shit. If it’s a book and you’re just writing to fill pages, that’s shit.

You feeling this?

Restaurants make this mistake all the time. Servers do it all the time. People phone it in all the time. They have the chance to deliver something even vaguely good, and they push out what? You got it. Shit.

How Do You Manage It?

Here’s the thing, and I’m sorry to keep repeating, but people don’t read any longer. They skim.

You know when you’re pushing out shit versus shipping. You’ve got pressure to ship. Great. Then make the time to make it worth it. Don’t hold things until they’re perfect. That’s constipation, and serves no one.

If it’s something you know will help others, put it out. If it’s not ready to help others, don’t. If you haven’t completed it, wait. Do the work. Finish it. If you haven’t given it a quick polish, wait. If you haven’t garnished the plate, so to speak, wait.

Then ship it.

Seth didn’t ask for your poop. We can all do better. I’m on this same watch. You with me?