Seth Godin talks about the importance of “shipping”. Shipping is basically putting your “stuff” out there. It is about doing the thing that you want to do and getting it out into the world.

If you are a playwright, shipping is sending out your play to producers or theatres to see if they want to produce it. Or submitting it to a playwriting contest. Or having a reading so that others can hear it.

It’s about sending your manuscript to a publisher. Or playing your song for an audience instead of just yourself. It’s posting your photos online. It’s sending in your poetry to a magazine.

It’s about putting yourself out there.

What if it sucks? What if you fail?

Then you’ve learned something and you can grow from it. But if you never move beyond your comfort zone, you’ll never get better. If you want to succeed at your goals, you have to push yourself to develop. You have to ship.

Cue the song “Whip It” by Devo. You’ve got to ship it. Ship it good!

© 2019 Peter Gruner