yesterday i ate dinner with one of my friends who told me about a great idea that she has.  of course, after her pitch, she reminded me not to steal her idea (which of course i won’t) but i left wondering if she would ever go after it in the first place.   i came back to my hotel room and started feeling like one of my recent ideas is destined to fail.  my fear of failure in that moment had me thinking i should quit the idea before i even started. i’m not sure where the negative energy came from but both events triggered a wonderful talk by seth godin, that ultimately reminds me that you can’t be extraordinary for just thinking, you become extraordinary by doing. i decided now was the time to pass it on because my friend, myself, and perhaps you might need it.

for those short on time i will give you the highlights.

• creating vs. shipping – anybody can create an idea, the difficulty is in bringing that idea to life (the latter he refers to as shipping).
• thrashing – unproductive work and/or thinking.  thrashing should be done in the beginning.  once you start the project, there is no more room for thrashing.
• resistance – the obstacles of ambition whose primary purpose is to prevent you from doing the work you are called to do (read more in steven pressfield’s book, the war of art)
• lizard brain – the prehistoric part of our brain that is concerned only with food, sex, and survival, which is often a key force in preventing you from shipping

the takeaway: too often we come up with ideas, start over, come up with new ideas, start over, and come up with new ideas.  the problem is…we never ship (aka execute).  the skill set that will make you extraordinary, that customers, employers, investors, and employees will value in you (and thus differentiates you from the rest) is the ability to ship, to get the project done right and on-time. today is better than any day to stop thinking about your idea, push past the resistance and start “shipping.”

credit jullien gordon for sending this to me

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