It feels good to have a project I’m nervous about shipping.
Shipping, as used by Seth Godin, means the moment when you stop working on a project and deliver it to the world.
There was a time that sending an arrangement, walking onstage for a performance – even hitting publish on a blog – made me nervous. Shipping means putting your name on the work, and that you can’t take it back because it’s out of your hands. It should be obvious why that is nerve-inducing.
But over time, as you ship enough projects, the feeling becomes familiar. You become more confident in the output, and more comfortable in the stages and emotions. I don’t feel much of a hook when I send an arrangement anymore, and I don’t even hesitate on publishing my daily post after nearly ten years without a miss.
That’s one more reason to enjoy these final steps with my first book. Jazz Theory for Choral Musicians is without question the biggest project I’ve ever made. I reviewed it one more time today, made some final edits, and still I get all blurry when I think about sending it to the printer.
And that feels great, because it affirms I’m doing important work that is meaningful to me and that challenges me.