Have you ever decided to go on an outing with friends, actually plan it and go on that outing, whether it turned out okay or not? That’s shipping. It’s acting on an idea and making sure it happens, no matter the outcome. In business words, shipping is launching an idea, whether it’s a project, a campaign or a business. It’s a concept Seth Godin, in his book, Linchpin, came up with.
It sounds like a simple concept, but its implications are deep. Shipping is not only about being able to come up with something and launching it for the sake of launching. Shipping is also a solution to conquer and a result of conquering our fears.
The biggest obstacle to launching something is our fear. Fear of it failing, fear of criticism, fear of disappointment. When we don’t launch something, it’s not that we didn’t because management didn’t let us, or because there was no technology. Many times, we were afraid to find ways and push for it and instead chose to limit ourselves to what is available, so we end up not launching it. That’s fear manifested.
Shipping allows us to overcome this fear. That is why we should keep shipping, whether it fails or not. After we ship that, we ship the next project. This way we counteract any fears of failing, criticism or disappointment, because in the worst case and we fail, we get used to dealing with fear.
Seth Godin proposed some ways to keep shipping. Others, I just do for myself. How to keep shipping:
- Set a deadline. Follow this deadline, and ship it on this day even when it’s not as perfect as you wanted it to be.
- Tell everyone to expect it. By making a social contract, you have no choice but to fulfill your end of the deal.
- Thrash early. A personal favorite. Get criticism as early as possible in the project, so towards shipping date, your project will proceed to ship smoothly.
- Avoid distractions. Often when we’re afraid to work on something and ship, we move to another task we have to do to distract us. Emails are one of the best distractions at work. Are you also guilty of refreshing your email clients, waiting for replies, instead of working on shipping something?
- Inspire yourself. Another favorite of mine, I’m usually guilty of using lack of inspiration as an excuse. Find a view you enjoy, sit in a position that you’re used to, just focus on your work or mull on the idea. It’ll usually inspire you.
- Set a limit to reviews. Before I send out an email, I set a 2x to read limit. Once I’ve reviewed it twice, I click on the send button. No regrets.
- Have a mantra. This is another personal practice. When it’s time to ship, I say to myself, “Just keep shipping”, the same way Dory sings “Just keep swimming” in Finding Nemo.
When we’ve overcome our fear, shipping becomes a result. The result is not just about the launched project or business. The result is also the handful of good ideas that come from the basketful that we’ve shipped. A long term benefit is that we are unafraid to try and keep cranking out ideas and projects and this increases our chances at hitting a gold vein.
The next time you have to ship and you’re afraid, think of the blue ocean beyond the harbor. There’s a sea of opportunity waiting to be conquered by you.
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