One of the things I’ve been thinking a lot about is how to know when something is ready. A website, an article, a song, a painting – whatever it is, how do you know that it is ripe for publication?
There are many answers to that question and maybe everyone of us has their own answer. When it is complete. When there nothing more to add. When there is nothing more to remove. When I’m tired of looking at it. When it sparkles.
Today, I listened to an interview with Derek Sivers and he gave an answer I’ve found to be true for me as well. Never wait until it’s “ready”:
If you wait until it’s ready, then you’ve waited too long. You have to let it go and release it, and remember that you’ll keep improving.
I like that the fact that we use the word “release” in English. You release an album or a book. I like the double meaning of that word. You have to let it go. You’ll always have the feeling that it’s never done. Diminishing returns, or whatever metric you want to measure, but at some point, put it out there before you’re ready.
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This is the 22nd post of my 100 days of writing series. You can find a list of all posts here.
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