280: Do You Need To Stop Starting?

#creativity #resistance #strategy

Yesterday, I came across the story I started in 2001, after my son was born.

It’s good - a rhyming picture book about a kid called Max Loaf, with a runaway imagination.

But, I didn’t finish it.

In 2004, I worked on it some more, and even got some illustrators interested.

But, Nothing really happened.

In 2018, I literally had an illustrator living next door- and he created fantastic designs for the whole book.

BUT still - when I came across it yesterday, it was just files sitting in a folder.

So, what’s the point of this post?

Most of us are great at starting stuff. We love the rush, the excitement, the dreams of what might happen.

But FINISHING is where the value is, and FINISHING is hard.

As Steve Jobs famously said, “real artists ship”.

I’ve spent hundreds of hours on Max Loaf, but until I publish the story they may as well never have existed.

What value are you sitting on? What do you need to finish?

Do yourself a favour. Take a break from kicking anything off today - finish something you’ve started.