Linchpin_ Are You Indispensable_ - Seth Godin [64]
publish your own book, technically easy to get it typeset or printed or even put into a
bookstore, authors with a choice rarely self-publish. That's because the current system is
such a powerful amplifier. Send your manuscript to your agent. She sells it to a publisher
(no pushing necessary on your behalf). The publisher does all the difficult tasks of
bringing your work to market, tasks that your lizard brain would gladly sabotage.
If there's an infrastructure (like a publisher) in place to amplify your insights, that's great.
Often, though, it's not there. The firms that take money to patent your idea and promote
it, say, or the fraudulent contests that charge you money to enter a competition to win a
prize--these prey on people who haven't built a platform. You need a platform that makes
it easy to turn your insight into a movement.
I'm trying to sell you on the idea of building a platform before you have your next idea, to
view the platform building as a separate project from spreading your art. You can work
on the platform every day, do it without facing the resistance. As the platform gets bigger
and stronger, you get to launch each idea a little farther uphill.
It's not easy to get to this point. A valuable platform is an asset, one that isn't handed to
you. It takes preparation and effort to set the world up so that your ideas are more likely
to ship. But that's effort that the resistance won't be so eager to sabotage. By separating
the hard work of preparation from the scary work of insight, you can build an
environment in which you're more likely to ship.
One Way to Thrash and Overcome Resistance
Here's how I make stuff.
I've used this technique to launch multimillion-dollar software projects, write books, plan
vacations, work in teams, work solo, and write a blog. All projects that ship on time.
The first step is write down the due date. Post it on the wall. It's real. You will ship on
this date, done or not.
The next step is to use index cards, Post-it notes, Moleskine notebooks, fortune cookies,
whatever you can embrace. Write down every single notion, plan, idea, sketch, and
contact. This is when you go fishing. Get as much help as you like. Invite as many people
in as you can. This is their big chance.
This is where the thrashing and dreaming begin. It's very hard to get the people you work
with to pay attention at this moment. Since the deadline is so far away, their lizard brains
are asleep and there's no fear or selfish motivation available. People focus on
emergencies, not urgencies, and getting yourself (and them) to stop working on
tomorrow's deadline and pitch in now isn't easy. A big part of the work, then, is to get
yourself (and your team, if you have one) to step up and dream.
On a regular basis, collate the cards and read 'em aloud to the team. This process will
inevitably lead to more cards.
Then, put the cards into a database. I use FileMaker Pro, but you can use any simple
database. (You can even use a pad of paper.) If you have a group, try to find a group
database for the Web. Every card gets its own record.
The record can include words, images, sketches, and links to other cards. The idea is that
this is your thrashing playground. Let the team play along. Rearrange. Draw. Sketch.
Make sure everyone understands that this is the very last chance they have to make the
project better.
One person (that would be you) then goes through the database and builds a complete
description of the project. If it's a book, then you've got a forty-page outline. If it's a Web
site, then you have every single screen and feature. If it's a conference, then you have an
agenda, a menu, a list of venues, and so on. It's the blueprint.
Take this blueprint NOT to everyone, but to the few people who have sign-off control,
the people with money, your boss. They can approve it, cancel the project, or suggest a
few compromises.
Then say, "If I deliver what you approved, on