You don’t have to stay in Death Valley.
When David Sedaris is reading a passage out loud, and it’s flopping, he refers to it as Death Valley. The good news is he’s reading material that he’s working on for an upcoming book. Silence instead of laughter is not fun, but it isn’t final. He says, “I’m grateful because I have a chance to fix it. It’s not like the story’s in print and I’m reading it aloud and realizing I’m in Death Valley.”
There’s a chance to fix it.
The bad work that gets made first isn’t final and isn’t fatal.
In fact, all (almost all?) projects get made this way. They start off with a lot of excitement then we begin making and it’s harder than we expected and what we’re working on shapeshifts a bit, but nevertheless we come up with a version 1. When we step back and look at it, we see an ugly duckling but we show it around and we get some feedback and then we get back to work. We make a version 2 that’s better. We tinker some more and then we send off a project into the world.
At Brainstorm Road we call these the Stages of Shipping. We call them stages because there are no Dream Project magic wands that allow you to cast a spell and make your project appear whole and glittering. Instead, there’s starting, making, remaking and sharing.
It’s not glamorous, but it is possible.
Especially, when we stop expecting perfect and start tolerating our imperfect first efforts.
Remember Sedaris. 40 drafts. No lingering in Death Valley. We find our way out – 10 minutes at a time.
Easy does it in December
Our first paid subscriber post is going live today. Sidestep the hustle and bustle of the season to slip away to spend a few minutes a day working on a project you care about. Easy does it. That’s our motto for December.
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