Set high standards

Hi everyone,

Happy Friday!

There are a lot of moving parts in my life right now. I’ve been taking a lot of time to turn inward, reflecting on what I want this next chapter of my life to look like. It has been a fruitful and challenging endeavor.

It has also led to a lot of uncertainty - not so much about what I want - but about how it will look, how it will show up, and what my life will look like in the process. I’m doing my best to stay grounded, open, and curious as I navigate the uncertainty.

One thing I am certain of:

Big changes - which I’m almost ready to discuss publicly - are on the horizon.

More on those in next week’s letter.

Before we move on, thank you for being here. If you have replied to me and I have yet to get back to you, I will do so in the next week.

Here’s (part of) what I’ve been thinking about this week.

SET HIGH STANDARDS

There’s this attitude that pervades the entrepreneurship community of “just ship.” It’s well-intentioned. It is meant to overcome the perfectionism that paralyzes many creators and stunts creativity and growth. The “ship-it habit” generates a bias towards action. You build then ship. Build then ship. Build then ship.

You learn and often fail in public.

But no matter what else you do, you ship.

I’ve used this to my advantage.

I’m prone to perfectionism. Which, I’ve learned, is often insecurity masking itself as something more digestible. “I won’t publish it until it’s perfect” feels a lot better to say to yourself than “I won’t publish it because I’m scared.”

The “ship-it habit” has helped overcome that a great deal.

However, it has been easy to let my focus shift from rewarding myself for the quality of what is shipped to just shipping itself.

The quality suffers.

The struggle, at least for someone new to creating in public like myself, is to find the balance between holding yourself to a high standard while continuing to ship regularly.

We have not yet earned the privilege of sporadic publishing.

Here’s architect Christopher Alexander on having high standards:

The architect approaches this process with depth, humility, and playfulness. This standard is not about being better than others (which, I suspect, is part of what has led me to shy away from claiming to have and setting high standards). It is about the richness of experience.

In the song Down in the Valley by The Head and the Heart, they sing:

I wish I was a slave to an age-old trade
like riding around on railcars and working long days

I love that imagery. There is no wanting. There is an enviable simplicity.

There is depth and richness to total immersion in a craft. Setting high standards for ourselves can bring about that level of depth.

It’s about striking a balance between shipping and standards, not allowing yourself to be paralyzed by perfection and still striving towards it (or at least towards “greatness” or emulating the greats).

Setting high standards isn’t - or doesn’t have to be - hubristic. It also doesn’t have to be paralyzing or lead to perfectionism.

It can be playful and light.

BOOK CLUB REMINDER

We’ll be meeting on Sunday, October 4th @ 10 AM CDT to discuss How Emotions Are Made by Lisa Feldman Barrett. You can order a copy here. It is also available on audio and eBook on Scribd. Get 60 days free here.

The rest of the books we’ll be reading for 2020 are all currently available on Scribd.

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That’s it for this week.

If this struck a chord with you or if you think someone you know might enjoy this (or would like to join our book club), please consider sharing the newsletter with them.

It would mean the world to me.

Until next time,

KB

PS - When I say “ship-it,” I can’t help but think of these:

Does anyone else remember them?