Since April, the biggest lesson I keep relearning: if you don't finish drafts or publish your ideas, even the half-formed ones, someone else will beat you to it. Seizing the opportunity... often with something less polished and without your magic (key insights + angle). The only way your version exists is if you ship it.
Beyond the act of building, shipping side quests offers benefits:
- Value exchange. You resolve or delight a customer and they pay you $$ for that effort.
- You gain skills, lessons, and familiarity with new tools (including AI if that's your thing). That exposure and learnings you can immediately apply to your main quest and/or other areas of your life.
- New creative downloads. The idea gods reward you with a fresh batch of new cards.
Sure, your half-formed idea might get ripped off by someone else into a fully fledged thing without credit, or end up in another builder's swipe file. But inspiration is circular: every swipe file you land in pays you back in creative XP, builds confidence, and sharpens your idea antenna. More often than not, if your half-formed idea has legs, you'll have an opportunity to build v2 if you choose to.
The rewards are clear. But to get them, you have to break the traps.
I constantly fall into these traps: high craft standards, fear of polluting the internet, judgment, and needing everything to fit perfectly within my world-building narrative.
A few years back, I started a project called Share The Vibe. I'd been sitting on the domain for 15 years, flirting with what it could become, before finally finding the idea it was meant for: a show for soulful builders. After completing the brand identity, designing the website, and recording season 1 featuring 8 episodes, I never shipped.
The project sat in my private vault while ‘vibe‘ and ‘vibe coding‘ exploded across the internet. This was supposed to be one of my largest side quests; supporting creative builders like me on their journey. Starting with a podcast, mini utilities, and a few surprises. Ironically, while I talked about creative block and completion in some episodes, I never expected the project itself to face that exact problem. It still sits in my vault today as an unfinished project. Who knows what happens next or if that will ever see the light of day.
My whole point is practice completion.
I used to think “learn by doing” was enough. It’s not. Doing without finishing is actually harmful.
The shift is: learn by doing → learn by completing.
Loose WIP drafts drain creative fuel. It clogs up your mental headspace, erodes your inner artist psyche, and steals the execution space you need for your main thing. iykyk. The only way to clear that mental space is to ship the V1 draft or close the tab and park the idea completely. No in-between. Completion is key.
Potential modes
To get v1 done, you need to pick your mode:
- Completion for self: your authentic self. Practice finishing without external pressure. Build your completion muscle.
- Completion for private use: 1-to-1 customers, friends, fam, colleagues, email list, or future public release candidates. (Prince has 2,000 unreleased songs within his private vault!)
- Completion in public: share your work. Increases surface area for feedback and maximizes success.
- Completion in public through a secret persona or alter-ego: shush the inner critic and ship it anonymously.
The only way out of the trap is to get moving. So just ship the thing. Learn by building to completion. Get v1 done.