Of possibilities and shipping

There are convergent thinkers—those who look for the right answer—and divergent thinkers—those that look for multiple possibilities.

Most of my artist friends are divergent thinkers.  They are used to starting a new project and seeing possibility.  I have colleagues who are ideators. They conceptualize the most amazing things.

The thing is, we can get lost in ideation and possibilities.

One of the many Seth-Godinisms that have become part of my vocabulary is the term "ship."

In an article for 99u Godin writes,

Ship often. Ship lousy stuff, but ship. Ship constantly.
Skip meetings. Often. Skip them with impunity. Ship.

At some point, we have to quit talking about it, polishing the ideas, exploring the possibilities, do something and ship it. 

Otherwise our ideas and possibilities never change the world. 

Nike's slogan, "Just do it" is popular because we've experienced it to be true. Research matters...counting costs matters—and sometimes we may abandon an idea because of it—but far too many ideas wind up perishing because we never ship them. 

Our passion has a shelf life, and more importantly, there are active forces working against us in putting ourselves out there in the world.  Steven Pressfield in his book, The War of Art, calls this the resistance and it is a formidable foe.

To be able to ship takes focus. We seek safety in our distractions.

One of the reasons I believe minimalism as a lifestyle is so attractive to creatives is that it clears away the distractions.

It takes practice to find the point where possibility and ideation become weight instead of fuel.

Make a choice. Do it.  Ship it. 

If not, the idea dies.

You have to fight for its life.