Stop Waiting. Just Go For It.

M Field center stage at Quiksilver launch

A lack of action guarantees 100% probability that absolutely nothing new has a chance of happening.

None of us, not a single one of us, can predict what will or won’t happen tomorrow.

You have to risk the next unknown step.

No one knows if they’re going to become the next

  • Steve Jobs
  • ProBlogger
  • TED speaker
  • Entrepreneur on the cover of Wired Magazine
  • NY Times Best Selling Author
  • Grammy winning Musician
  • Surf wear designer

We should go for it anyway.

We don’t have to:

  • Know where it is going to finish
  • Have a five-year plan
  • Know what shape it is going to take
  • Wait for permission
  • Have a budget
  • Know how to do it
  • Know all the right people

We do need to:

  • Swing for the fence not for a single
  • Risk embarrassment and rejection
  • Tune out negative people
  • Believe in ourselves
  • Try something different when we get stuck

We are guaranteed to:

  • Meet interesting people
  • Feel alive again
  • Have new experiences that will stretch you
  • Never regret that you tried
  • Learn a lot about yourself

They are just like us

They too faced doubt, challenges, discouragement, slim moments of hope, but they went for it anyway.

Get out your pom-poms and your list of excuses.

You’re going to want to cheer, cry tears of joy and cross off every excuse you’ve entertained.

Leading the way to simplicity

Mike Field

Artist, Waterman, after 15+ years as a painter and designer M. Field was announced last week as Quiksilver’s newest beach wear clothing line.

Ask Mike what he knew about apparel design 18 months ago?

Ask Mike how confident he was that he was going to be on the big stage with brands like DC, Hawk and Roxy?

Tweet this to @Quiksilver and congratulate them.

Listen to our Podcast interview last year when this was just kicking off.

He’s just like us.

Corporate Escapee

Pam Slim

Author, Blogger, Career Coach

Just published her second book, Body of Work (book review coming soon) after she escaped corporate consulting to go out on her own.

Ask Pam if she knew Guy Kawasaki was going to promote her now famous letter to CEO’s, COO’s and CIO’s?

Tweet this to @PamSlim.

Ask her if she thought that the blog she created in a computer class would be read by hundred’s of thousands of readers each year?

Her adventurous story Podcast.

She’s just like us.

Finding remarkable again

Tess Vigeland

Broadcaster, Author, Finance guru.

Jumped without a net after 11 years as a leading host of National Public Radio weekly show-Marketplace.

Ask Tess how easy it’s been some days getting up each day embracing the unknown?

Ask her if she ever thought a fifteen-minute speech to 3000 people would have changed her life forever?

Tweet this to @TessVigeland.

Ask her if she believed she’d get a book deal two weeks later?

More on Tess’s journey.

She’s just like us.

Finding new rhythms

Jackopierce

Jack O’Neill & Cary Pierce

Dads, Musicians, Entrepreneurs.

Started rocking together in 1988 in central Texas.

Two decades later, ask these two musicians if they thought they’d get a second shot at the big show?

Tweet this to @Jackopierce.

How about a recording contract in Nashville?

Give a listen to some of their tunes.

They are just like us.

On stage TED2013

Nilofer Merchant

Author, Speaker, Corporate Director

After her long tech career at silicon valley giants like Apple, Nilofer earned her spot next to U2’s Bono at this year’s TED2013.

Ask her if she thought she’d be featured in the Harvard Business Review after writing a break-out article about how sitting is killing us?

Tweet this to @Nilofer.

Now (among many things) she’s the messenger of Walking Meetings.

Podcast interview from a cafe in the valley.

She’s just like us.

Bringing big ideas to light

Mario Schultzke

Founder of IdeaMensch

After a 50 state road tour on a shoestring budget, armed with only a MacBook Pro, and a US map; IdeaMensch has now helped bring over 2000 entrepreneurs ideas to light.

Ask Mario how confident he felt when tomorrow night’s next Meet Up had zero tickets sold?

Tweet this to @IdeaMensch

Ask him how easy it’s been doing his now day job at the University of Montana and running IdeaMensch?

Listen to Mario’s nine lessons that every entrepreneur should know.

He’s just like us.

Author of Accidental Creative

Todd Henry

Author, Podcaster, Consultant, Creative.

Ask Todd about how he accidentally became one of iTunes top business podcasts by faithfully recording his ideas every week since 2007?

Tweet this to @ToddHenry.

Ask him how much caution he received over his latest best-selling business book title “Die Empty”  Who wants to read about death Todd? 

Listen to his story.

He’s just like us.

Zero to on top in two years

Jeff Goins

Tribe Leader, Author, Mega Blogger

Ask @JeffGoins if he thought he’d be speaking side-by-side with Michael Hyatt at his Platform conferences when he cold called him to have coffee?

Tweet this to @JeffGoins.

Ask him if while he was leading mission trips he thought he’d build a Mega Blog in less than two years time?

Podcast early in the upward trend.

He’s just like us.

What are you not doing today that you wish you were?

Come on…tell us.

Keep going.

I Was On Pace to Win, But I Didn’t

a-perfect-photo-of-usain-bolt-after-losing-a-race-in-rome

You were out the gate and setting a blistering pace.

The crowd was offering their cheers and accolades.

Everyone believed you were going to do it this time.

It looked like you were pulling out in front ahead of the rest.

You were on pace to win

It is easier to start than to finish.

It’s easy to be ahead of others in the beginning.

It’s bloody difficult to actually win.

When self-evaluation is missing

I hear this phrase a lot I was on pace to win.

Runners or athletes use it in their post race analysis.

At some point they were on pace to set a personal record, win their age group or win the race.

Early in they boast of how great their race was going, then comes their proclamation of I was on pace…

What I often fail to hear is an athlete’s self-reflection connecting what mistakes were made that threw a monkey wrench in their on pace plan.

The cruel reality is that being on pace to win and actually winning or finishing are not the same.

Difficult questions to ask ourselves

As Teddy Roosevelt famously argued,

the credit goes to the man actually in the arena.  

I think you’ll agree that there is due credit deserved to the man who even attempts to be in the arena.

Yet, I believe we owe it to ourselves to perform the necessary self-assessment to reconcile what really happened in the arena.

  • Why didn’t I finish?
  • Why didn’t I accomplish my goal?
  • What role did external factors play?
  • What should I consider doing differently next time?
  • What excuses am I making that are masking the real reasons I didn’t accomplish my plan?

Immortal Words

As Teddy Roosevelt said in 1910 “…and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly...”

I have a list of things I’ve failed at.

Those experiences have been my teacher.

I hope you accept this as my invitation to have the courage to engage in some honest inward evaluation of why you fell short.

Failure yes, but we dared greatly, right?

Enjoy the rest of Teddy’s words.

Teddy Roosevelt, Excerpt from the speech “Citizenship In A Republic”
delivered at the Sorbonne, in Paris, France on 23 April, 1910

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

Acknowledgement to www.Teddy-Roosevelt.com for the above expert.

Get Outside Every Day and Move More

I wish this was the view from my office

When was the last time you got up from your desk and got outside for five minutes before the next meeting? Instead of checking one more email or returning one more phone call, I think you should stand up from your cubicle and go outside.

In America we spend most of our time at work. Vacations total less than four weeks a year for most people. Weekends are often comprised of runs to Home Depot and our kid’s sporting events.

Throw in a daily commute to work and poof a week goes by and the only time we were outside was walking between our car and our office building.

I know many people who only engage the outside world on a weekend or a vacation.

That seems like a long time to wait to be outside.

Years ago I found this sustenance for good living, get outside once everyday.

Walking laps is better than nothing

I started walking laps around my building between meetings just to get some fresh air.

At first this was driven by stress and the hopeful desire of alleviating some of the environmental pressure.

I didn’t change my shoes or swap out my work clothes; I simply walked out the door.

I discovered that by making it a goal to be outside every single day something was slowly restored in me.

The truth is I can’t really explain to you what changed other than to say it was positively affecting my outlook, lowering my stress level and increasing my optimism.

The Jawbone Up and FitBit

If you’d love to have a coach to help motivate you to get out and away from your desk, for less than $130 you can pick up one of these.

The Jawbone Up and the FitBit are both wristbands that track your daily activity including sleep, steps walked and calories burned.

They will sync with your iPhone or Droid through a downloadable app.

Eat better. Sleep better. Move More.

My wife just got her’s in the mail today.

These charming little accountability partners will give you a nudge when you’ve been sitting for too long or have yet to meet your daily exercise objectives.

You will be amazed at how much more activity you engage in when something is nagging you to get moving.

Fitbit

I’d encourage you to give it a try for two weeks.

Get outside once everyday and witness for yourself the benefits.  Let me know how it goes.

You’ll never go back.

One last piece of advice

If you haven’t listened to my podcast interview with Nilofer Merchant on Walk-n-Talk meetings you need to.

She eliminates any remaining excuses that you can conjure up as to why you can’t walk “Sitting is our generation’s smoking”.

You don’t stand a chance if you watch her Ted Talk.

Why Shouldn’t It Be You?

Kelly Slater-Surfing Legend

Someone is going to

  • Win a Grammy
  • Start a women’s movement
  • Raise ten million dollars
  • Ring the opening bell for trading at the London Stock Exchange
  • Move to Hawaii
  • Write a New York Times best seller
  • Win the Boston Marathon
  • Live to be 110 years old
  • Set the world record for eating the most goldfish
  • Ride across America on a bicycle raising money for an orphanage in Haiti
  • Meet the President of the United States
  • Open up for the Dave Matthews Band
  • Displace Intel as the world’s largest server chip manufacturer
  • Remarry after the tragic loss of a spouse
  • Discover the cure to cancer
  • Eject from status quo and take the kids on a year long tour of the United States in an RV
  • Be the boss
  • Meet “the Boss”
  • Run a 5K for the first time
  • Receive needed forgiveness
  • Speak in front on 5000 people
  • Take a year off work to travel
  • Lower cholesterol by 50 points
  • Become a father
  • Pay off a mortgage
  • Raise $25M but only selling 25% of the company
  • Go surfing with Kelly Slater
  • Quit a job without having a job because its the right thing to do
  • Leave an abusive relationship
  • Write a blog that is read by 200,000 people
  • Create the next Sundance Film festival winner
  • Write songs for a living while commuting back and forth from NYC and Nashville
  • Qualify for Ironman Hawaii
  • Be voted Denver’s most innovative architect

Why shouldn’t it be you?

We often tell ourselves “it will never happened to me”.

When we entertain that type of thinking then we preclude ourselves from the possibility that the unlikely will ever happen to us.

Someone is going to accomplish each of these items on this list.

Why shouldn’t it be you?  Why can’t it be you?

What would be on your list if you dared to engage it?

I know it can be done, as many of these are not examples, they are real people’s lives.

Why shouldn’t it be you?

Stop Using Lack of Time As Your Excuse

It’s easy to tell ourselves

If I only I had more time then I would (fill in the blank)

  • Balance my checkbook
  • Stretch my back
  • Clean out the garage
  • Floss my teeth

Today, we woke up with an extra hour in the bank (here in the US-daylight savings time change).

So what did you do with your extra hour?

I am guessing that you didn’t wake up and make a list of five of your least favorite things.

Of course you didn’t, I didn’t either.

Nor did I start building that open ocean kayak that I’ve dreamed about building in my garage.

I didn’t schedule three more podcast guests or read that book I keep intending to start.

If I’m honest with myself, having more time really isn’t the reason I don’t pursue my dreams or floss my teeth daily.

I prioritize what I love

I don’t enjoy flossing my teeth.  I never have and yet I know full well that as the dentist preaches “Just floss the one’s you want to keep“.

Isn’t that a persuasive argument?

Today my teeth are all present and accounted for so I simply choose something else for the three minutes it would take me to battle gingivitis.

We prioritize the things, the people, the experiences that we love above the things we simply don’t want to do.  We use the excuse that we lack time and therefore we appease and comfort ourselves for ignoring those peripheral priorities.

The root is deeper than lacking time.

How am I going to change? 

I’ve found that it is unrealistic to say

“Starting tomorrow I’m going to start doing or stop doing (fill in your challenge) every single day“.

No I’m not.

When approaching change like this we obligate ourselves to a zero to 100% compliance overnight.

Most of the time, it just doesn’t work like that. For most people they start with a beginning, some small movement forward, then a bit of consistency over time and a lot of grace for when you fall off the wagon.

My encouragement to you this week is ask yourself,

Where am I using the lack of time
as the bogus reason that I cannot...?

Ok ready for the drum roll?  

I cured my flossing aversion by putting the floss in the shower instead of at the sink.  Yep, that’s all it took.  Now when I take a shower, I pull out the floss dispenser and I knock out two things at once.  Super Type-A I know.

That was all it took, to change the thirty-eight year trend of not flossing my teeth.

I moved it to a place in my daily routine where I couldn’t use my list of iron clad excuses.

Ridiculous I know, but it really taught me something about myself.

I learned that flossing was the peephole to places that I am stuck, resistant, reluctant, or indifferent to change.

Good luck on your list.

Keep going.

What to Say When You Have Nothing to Say?

Canyonlands National Park

I usually have an idea in my head or a concept that I am looking forward to unpacking with the keystrokes of my Mac.

This time I don’t!

At the moment my idea reservoir is about as dry as the Canyonlands of Utah.

For today, my entry is to say that I have no big idea to offer you.

Yet, I suspect this discomfort is more common than we might want to admit to each other.

Sometimes we just don’t have a revolutionary idea or project that we can’t wait to work on.

I wouldn’t call this writers block

It’s more like the time right after a big race or shipping your project.

You did all of the work, trained well, showed up on race day and delivered.

The day immediately after the race is a bummer.

There is a let down of excitement.

The lead-up anticipation is over.

The daily motivation of the deadline is gone.

It’s back to the drawing board to start working on the next “big thing”.

The Next Big Thing

I envy people that are more even keeled than me.

I love watching them as they do the work without requiring a new injection of “what’s the next big thing?”

They have an amazing ability to move from one day-to-the next without much thought.

I know athletes like this.

They finish one race on Sunday and then on Monday they start their training cycle over again.

They don’t need a goal or mission or a big story to chase.

They simply wake up tomorrow and do the work.

Dreaming of a Reason

My heart drives most of what I do.

Unfortunately I don’t wake up on Monday after a race and just jump back onto the hamster wheel.

I go for a run, but not with the same zeal I had before the race.

I go searching for a more allusive question

"What is my heart saying is next?"

I usually need a reason or an idea to drive me to get all of the way to the finish line.

This same mystery surrounds writing this blog.

I am familiar with the Steven Pressfield “Do the Work” idea.

I am not talking about work ethic here.

I am talking about the internal fire burning at a dull glow instead of a hot fiery furnace.

Friends I am not going to conjure up some list of five things to do to cure this predicament.

I know some of those lists are very popular and even helpful.

Instead I’m going to leave us both with the mystery of the question

“What is our heart saying is next?”

Keep going.

Die Empty: Unleash Your Best Work Every Day

Chalk Board at an outdoor pub in London

I was recently in London and came across this chalkboard at this outdoor pub.  It stopped me in my tracks, as they were inviting people to write for everyone to see what they most desire to do before they die.

“Live Right”

“Travel to ….”

“Kiss …..”

I immediately thought of Todd Henry’s new book, Die Empty.

“Don’t go to the grave with your best work inside of you.  Choose to die empty”
Todd Henry

No one really loves to think about the end of one’s life.

No one that I’ve met wants to spend their career doing work they don’t love or believe in.

In Todd Henry’s newest book, “Die Empty” he takes those two concurrent unifying truths and invites us to “Unleash Your Best Work Every Day”.

Toddy Henry is the author of the successful book and podcast The Accidental Creative.   In Die Empty he outlines the case for purposely extracting your life’s best work from within.

The beauty of Die Empty is not that Todd invites you to not leave your personal Picasso unpainted but most importantly he provides practical steps for how to make it happen.

Here are some practical guidelines that Todd explores:

  • How to avoid the “Seven Deadly Sins of Mediocrity”
  • How to define your battles wisely
  • Why you should be fiercely curious
  • How to step out of your comfort zone and make a valuable contribution to the world

If you’ve dreamed of doing your best work. If you’ve pondered a life list, books you want to write, trips you want to take, creative projects you want to begin, don’t allow those visions to die with you.

Let Todd Henry, help you make it happen.

Pick up a copy of Die Empty and stop listening to the excuses in your head.

Our Compliance is Not Their Fault

Most people sign an unwritten contract every day.

We trade a paycheck for predictability.

Does your arrangement go something like this?

Boss, you give me a predictable every-two-week paycheck, health insurance, projects to work on, lunch breaks, and a Christmas party, and I’ll give you my will, my dignity, my freedom of choice, my security, my sleep, and my future plans for my life.

Like the indentured servant, most employees take on the goals of the crown—the company and the customers—as their priority instead of their own goals. Creating great products and building great companies are wonderful ways to invest in a career, but at what expense?

Too often the objectives of the kingdom—the company—become the only mission. What you want, what you need, or what you value is rarely included in the company’s quarterly objectives.

How frequently have you been asked in your quarterly or annual review,

How is the company treating you?

What can the company do for you?

How can the company help make you a more content, enthusiastic, invigorated, challenged contributor?

The problem is that you have made a trade, an agreement:

You work for them and they believe that their mission—regardless of your feelings about it—should be fulfilling to you.

You will never offer your best if you are constantly editing yourself to keep in step with the contract you signed.

We can end up yielding so much of our true selves that we subject ourselves to emotional tyranny.

Isn’t it true that fear is the driving force behind our compliance?

If we hold conflicting views with our company or leadership, if we desire more than what is offered in the trade, we fear the consequences of standing up for what we desire and believe.

I owe this realization to a coworker.

We were taking a walk in the parking lot together outside of our office when he told me,

“I get it. I sign a contract and accept the terms of the agreement every time I cash a paycheck.”

He was right.

I had a business dealing that accurately depicted this type of contract. It was a contractual agreement between three parties that totaled seven figures over five years.

One of the parties never signed the contract, but they cashed the checks each year for their portion of the compensation.

After a few years the attorneys concluded that even though this party never signed the contract, they were acting according to the contract terms and receiving compensation for doing so.

Therefore, cashing the check was as good as signing the piece of paper.

MY compliance WAs not their fault.

THE UNWRITTEN CONTRACT

Cashing the check is as good as signing the contract.

By cashing my check every two weeks, I was agreeing with the terms of my employment even though I wasn’t externally condoning or agreeing with those terms. I had to take ownership of my participation in the dysfunctional system.

I could no longer blame or point fingers.

I had to become a part of the solution or stop cashing the checks.

*Expert from eBook: Don’t Quit Your Job. Fire Your Boss.

For your complete free copy download here.

99 Uncensored Ways to Live Life

The Path of Life by Joram68 (Creative Commons)

I was struck recently reading a new book realizing that really I am asking the same question every time I pick up a new title

“How do I have better or more…

  • Health
  • Sex
  • Finances
  • Success
  • Relationships
  • Career

The truth is that the answers are relatively the same from book-to-book.

The problem is that they are so damn hard to live by.

Check ’em out and see which one’s you’d take and which one’s you’d leave.  I’m not claiming this is a complete list.

These 99 fell out of me into my journal on an airplane ride.

  1. Show up consistently and do the work.
  2. Work on what you love.
  3. Don’t do it to pursue fame.
  4. Don’t neglect your relationships.
  5. Don’t be an asshole.
  6. Duck tape fixes almost anything.
  7. Be generous.
  8. Don’t give up, but be ready to revise at any moment.
  9. Don’t hire someone that you wouldn’t want to be stuck with for a twelve-hour car ride through a snowstorm.

10. Don’t dip your quill in company ink.

11. Rest one day a week.

12. Don’t self promote.

13. Help others achieve their goals.

14. Spend less money than you make.

15. Be willing to do with less sleep in order to pursue your dreams.

16. If you want to feel good at 80, you better start doing something about it at age 40.

17. Enjoy the wife of your youth. Don’t upgrade her after she cranks out three kids and gains three dress sizes.

18. Write down your goals and stare at them everyday.

19. Don’t check your email 200 times a day.

20. Listen attentively to others.

21. Risk doing more work than is required or asked.

22. Professionalism is a choice, not a personality trait.

23. Self-respect and dignity are easy to ignore, but difficult to regain.

24. Don’t pursue a career in hopes of your family waiting for you to “succeed”.  Your victory party may be pretty lonely.

25. Say what you mean and mean what you say.

26. Practice, practice, practice.

27. Ask advice of other’s who have done it before.

28. Surround yourself with people smarter than you.

29. Don’t take no for an answer, but know when to back off.

30. Don’t keep saying, “I don’t have time to do that.” Just do it.

31. Your checkbook and your calendar accurately reflect your priorities.

32. Don’t do crappy work and expect showmanship to make up for it.

33. The words that come out of your mouth reveal what you believe.

34. Assume the best in everyone until they prove you wrong.

35. Forgive and forget.

36. Don’t be a passive boss, husband, father, or friend.

37. Better is a patient man than a warrior who takes a city.

38. The best things in life are the hardest to grow and cultivate. Weeds creep in overnight.

39. Pursue adventure more than comfort.

40. Avoid negative people.

41. Ask for help, but don’t be needy.

42. Offer second chances to others.

43. Don’t eat fried food.

44. Pray daily.

45. Don’t assume that someone with a lot of money has fewer problems than you.

46. Courage is not the absence of fear, but action in spite of fear.

47. Don’t take credit for someone else’s work.

48. Do something that scares you.

49. There is a difference between persistence and annoyance. Figure it out.

50. Respect people’s personal space.

51. When you loose, congratulate the winner.

52. Don’t tattoo your face even if you are the former champion of the world.

53. Don’t name your children after a long night of partying.

54. Don’t worry about other people’s problems. Worry about your own.

55. Don’t use credit cards. Don’t live in debt.

56. Auto-draft your savings every month.

57. Watch less TV.

58. Don’t treat your life like a game.

59. Do work that matters.

60. Deal with your past so it does not consume your future.

61. Automate repeatable tasks and focus on producing value instead.

62. Don’t write an email when you are mad.

63. Don’t send bad news over email. Call instead.

64. We teach people how to treat us by what we invite and permit.

65. Pursue adventures and memories instead of buying more stuff.

66. Most of what we believe is impossible is only in our head.

67. Having your ass handed to you will teach you more than ten years of prosperity.

68. Humility is a choice.

69. Do what you’re good at and stop focusing on fixing your weaknesses.

70. Don’t watch the news if you want to remain an optimist.

71. Less is more.

72. Tell the truth the first time.

73. Your kids want your attention not another vacation.

74. Drive used cars.

75. Ask questions.

76. Stay curious.

77. Ask yourself, “What is my motive?”

78. Exercise for 20 minutes every day.

79. Floss.

80. Drink water.

81. Don’t tell someone who just lost his or her job, his or her marriage, his or her child, his or her house, his or her health, or his or her company that you know how they feel. You don’t.

82. Don’t borrow money.

83. Don’t flirt with your married former high school girlfriend over Facebook.

84. Seek first to understand.

85. Don’t put up with bullshit.

86. When you’re the boss, don’t underestimate your influence over your employees. They miss nothing.

87. Bless those who curse you.

88. No one will care about your idea as much as you do.

89. Invest regularly in friendships.

90. Get outside every day.

91. Ask “Why?”

92. Accept correction.

93. Apprentice for as long as possible. Once you’re in charge, you can’t ever go back.

94. Feed the hungry, shelter the cold, and care for single mothers.

95. Create space in your life for quiet.

96. Don’t believe everyone on Facebook is having more fun than you, skinnier than you, funnier than you, has more beautiful houses, children, cars, and vacations than you. It’s only some of the story.

97. Everyone’s lives make more sense in the rear view mirror than as it is happening.

98. Tell your wife, your children, your parents, and your friends that you love them. Don’t assume they know. It needs to be said. They need to hear it.

99. A fulfilling purpose is longer lasting than any amount of sex, fame, fortune, success, vacation, or adventure.

Download the PDF full list here:

99 Uncensored Ways to Live Life by Aaron McHugh

How to Gain Seven More Seconds of Consideration?

Photo by ReneS (creative commons)

Most people rush past the final coat of polish.

If you’re selling a product, a service, an idea or yourself then you might consider one more coat of polish before you ship.

I am a big fan of Don’t Worry Be Crappy, courtesy of the Godfather Guy Kawasaki.

I’m going to modify Guru Guy’s principle, Ship early and don’t rush the final polish.  

Don’t confuse the two ideas

You can ship a crappy product but it better work.

Crappy may just mean that there are ten things you would like to add but you’re going to ship it now and add those additions later.

There are too many choices in the market today for any of us to waste our time trying to like something.

Without a polish of professionalism, we will be replaced quickly.

  • We uninstall it
  • We stop reading
  • We move on
  • We choose another option
  • We write a bad review

Better have substance behind it

I was having a conversation with a new acquaintance and he said “When I read your work, I thought you did this for real“.

The polish of professionalism invited seven more seconds of his consideration, his attention and his mind.

What he was saying was when I read your eBook and blog posts, I thought you were a professional.

The layer of professionalism better have substance behind it or else we’re done.

We don’t get a second chance if we’ve lead someone astray.

Yet, we never even get a glance if we don’t polish the veneer of our work until we see a reflection that we are proud of, then it’s ready.

Go get that polish.