Almost three months ago I officially launched Advanced Riskology. Last week, Take This Job & Shove It launched to the world.
It went really well. Someone on Twitter even said that every person they follow was talking about it. Sorry about that. Didn’t mean to jam the airways, but thanks for letting me have my 15 minutes of fame.
Anyway, all the talk about launching got me thinking a bit about how launches normally go:
That’s fine. The world needs hype and excitement from time to time, but I’m more interested in a different kind of launching, the kind that goes on behind the scenes and if you’re making any headway in life, happens every single day.
The invisible launch.
It’s the slow and steady transformation of an idea to a valuable resource over the course of time. It’s more about experimentation than “launching.”
Launching can take all kinds of shapes and forms and should happen every day, really. Create new ideas, explore new territory, challenge yourself to try new things and push yourself to share your experiments with the world.
Not just new things either. Re-launching old things every day is just as important. Look at everything you know and force yourself to see it from another perspective. Why does it work the way it does? How could it work differently? What could make this narrow idea apply to more people? What could make this broad idea more relevant to fewer people?
Ask yourself these questions every single day and then test them out. That’s what artists do.
No matter how big or small, they launch new ideas every single day. The relaunch old ideas every single day. They test and they tweak and they test some more. All the while, this process is on display for the world. Everyone gets to see the method to the madness. Everyone gest to decide which ideas live and which die. Which are right and which are wrong.
Launching every day means asking the world for the participation in your process of creation. We create for the world, so we ask it what it wants.
Launching every day means putting away your ego and the idea that you know best. Your role becomes one of testing and tweaking based on feedback and offering to the world instead of forcing your creations onto it.
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If you’re a writer, ask yourself a new question every day. Then answer it. Launch it to the world and see if it’s accepted. If it is, expand it, add to it, make it even better and launch it again.
If it isn’t accepted, ask why and try again. Keep what worked and change what didn’t. Relaunch it and see what happens. Keep tweaking until the world tells you that you’ve got it right. Then launch it again.
If you’re a visual artist, make something new for people to look at every day. Find new materials and work them into old pieces. Take old materials and work them into new pieces. Everyone wants to find the niche that works for them, but don’t ever become satisfied once you’ve found it.
Satisfaction breeds complacency and complacency becomes stagnation. Give your audience what they want and then challenge them to want something else. Listen to your audience and let them challenge you to create something else. Do this every single day in bite size chunks and see how your work and the perception of it changes.
The same goes for musicians. Write a new song every day and see which ones last. Take your best ones and change them around until they’re unrecognizable.
Launch new projects and side projects all the time. Experiment with new instruments and look for different ways to play your old ones. Add too many parts to a song. Take too many away from another. Let your fans tell you which songs are best and then rewrite them and see if they’re still liked. Most all, change something every day. Launch every day.
If you’re an adventurer, go to new places instead of the same ones you’ve already been to. Meet new people. Talk to strangers, and not just the ones that look friendly. Find new ways to travel and find new ways to experience the old ways. Tell people about your culture and listen intently when they tell you about theirs.
Go home and launch the stories of your adventures on anyone that will listen. Find new ways to tell people about them and add more details to your old stories. Change people’s perception of the world every day and let them change yours.
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When you launch every single day, you recognize that there’s no such thing as perfection, but each test and tweak and offering gets you one step closer to it. You realize that there are no special occasions and that any day is as good as any other day to launch your idea.
Actually yesterday is always better, but today will do, and tomorrow is too late. Most of all, you realize that nothing is ever good enough. There’s no such thing as perfect, but if you don’t strive for it and launch along the way, “good enough” will immediately become “not enough.”
So, what can you launch today? What can you offer to the world?
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Image by: taygeta2779
The last thought there really resonated with me.
I think a lot of people, myself included, continue to polish things – holding them back until they are “just right.”
The problem is nothing ever happens. The business never gets off the ground, the blog post doesn’t get published, the song never gets mastered and released to the world.
If we’re really creators, we should be constantly creating and RELEASING new or improved content, whatever the medium.
To adapt an old saying – if you’ve got an idea, and you don’t tell anyone about it, does it really exist?
I’m right there with you, Mike. If a tree falls in the forest and no one’s around…
This was a great little piece of insight, Tyler. I had just stepped away from a writing project at my computer with the satisfaction that I had completed today’s “segment” of work, and when I returned and found your email, I thought, YES! That’s what I mean when I challenge myself to accomplish a bit today, but a bit aimed in a new and specific direction!
And thanks again for your insight, Tyler.
I like this idea. Launch everyday has a feeling of excitement to it. The thought that you have something important enough to launch everyday makes what you do have earth changing proportions!
I agree, Steve, and constant feedback can help make what you’re working on so much better. Just don’t ask for too much advice.
That was absolutely brilliant! I wasn’t thinking about it that way. I was working hard toward my first launch. Now I can enjoy the ride!
Even though it comes across as a big event, I think of launching as much more of a gradual process than a 1 time event.
Work hard, yes, but definitely enjoy the ride.
Fantastic, Tyler! As a fellow musician, adventurer and writer, how right you are that the test and tweak model is universal, and can apply everywhere. The concept of continually launching in each of those areas is powerful. Thanks, man!
Thanks Mark. Maybe a “rolling launch” would be a better way to describe it. You launch over and over again, until you get it nailed. And then you do it one more time for good measure.
ooo I really like this. When you focus on constantly improving & adapting rather than building up to one specific event, failures become learning experiences and areas to improve. Keep bringing it Tyler
I’m reading the War on Art by Steven Pressfield. One of the main ideas is just show up every day, put in the time. That’s good. But LAUNCH EVERY DAY, now that’s exciting!
Yes. I hear and applaude your writing. but what ‘world’ response do I seek? When I read this part I feel I am to try to please some world out there, some audience, of which of course there are many many many and they often have competing ideas of what is valuable. competing aesthetics. I agree interaction is important, and taking on feedback, but to a point only, like advice.. . . .don’t you love it when people use your own words to respond to your writing? Means they–we are paying attention.
You’re right Pearl. I’m glad you’re paying attention!
The difference I see is that relying on one person or even just a few people to tell you if you’re on the right track or not when you’re pursuing something big is dangerous, especially if those people are not the target audience you’re trying to interact with.
On the other hand, continually asking for feedback from your entire audience – the people you’re actually trying to help – is, in my opinion, a great way to make sure you’re moving forward in the right direction.
Does that make sense?
Tyler,
I like this analogy of launching every day. It’s kind of like oft repeated ideal of “take one step at a time and then another and another . . .”
You’re putting pieces of a puzzle together and sometimes you have to adjust all of the pieces until each one fits just right.
I’m not sure what I’m launching just yet. I thought I knew but now the plans are skewed and I’m focused on finding other angles right now. Bit by bit, block by block. Not seeing the big picture at this juncture is unusual for me – I usually have an outline of something from the start – but I am learning to simply listen to the nudges and take action on the ones that feel right.
How nice to be having a conversation. So the people I am seeking feedback from and responding to–fine tuning according to responses I get—it is becoming a collaboration.
Hi Tyler. Really enjoyed this article. I definitely relate to the perfectionism issue that you touched on. I can see that for a long time, and perhaps still, that’s been a hang up for me—thinking that the work is never good enough to “ship”. It’s really a toxic thought that holds you back. I think the opposite of perfectionism is being willing to be a beginner again. Being willing to make mistakes and appear naive. As Sir Ken Robinson said: “if you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never be original”.
Completely true, Lach. I like that quote.
You know, now that I’ve had more time to go over it, I’ve noticed that “Take This Job & Shove It,” the free guide I released last week has a few spelling & grammar errors in it. I could have spent a week pouring over every line and still not caught everything.
It’s been downloaded just under 1000 times already and I’ve gotten exactly 1 email mentioning the typos.
Launch launch launch!
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This is great advice! Launching something everyday can help you to keep your motivation up and stop you from getting stuck. Also, it keeps your creative juices flowing. I like it. I’ll definitely be incorporating this into my daily routine.
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I really liked this article. I already try to do something that scares me every day and it works wonders. But in other areas I often feel like I get no feedback, though I always launch the “finalized” product.
Oh and the launching ideas for adventurers are charming, I definitely want to try them out and be more of an adventurer!