I've fallen off the wagon
I have no post game.
I’ve really fallen off the wagon the past few weeks.
In the previous couple of months, I’d done such a good job of overcoming my fear of sharing my work on social media. I completed my arbitrary challenge to make and share a ton of art, learned a lot in the process, and made real progress in the world of social media.
Since finishing the series two months ago, I’ve posted two new videos, both for a partnership with Claude, and other than that, nada.
I’m working on a few bigger projects now, and the issue is that I’ve fallen back into the old habit of not setting proper deadlines to share.
I worry about two things that, as I type them out, sound stupid:
On selling my ASCII Aquarium, I worry the updates are useless. No one wants to see small progress on an idea I shared a few months ago.
On making a data-based apparel brand, I worry I open the door to copycats by putting my artwork and ideas out there.
Both these excuses are a damn cope.
The real thing underneath each is that I don’t actually know what counts as progress worth sharing on these projects, so I spin my wheels instead of moving forward, and then I don’t have anything to post, which makes me feel like I’m not making progress, which makes me spiral.
The challenge worked well because the unit of progress was obvious.
Make a thing, post the thing. That was the whole job. As a result, I made a lot more things and spent less time tweaking projects over and over before I felt comfortable sharing them.
The aquarium and the apparel brand don’t have that easily defined of an output. They’re long projects where the middle is mostly invisible work, and I haven’t figured out what a worthwhile update actually looks like for either of them.
They’re also different projects altogether. The aquarium has natural units to share if I bothered to define them, like learning a Fusion concept, printing parts, getting a prototype assembled. The apparel brand is murkier because the work is taste, iteration, and logistics with manufacturing partners right now. I don’t really know what a meaningful update looks like when you’re just giving an idea shape.
So the question I’m sitting with isn’t really how do I build in public. It’s what does a meaningful unit of progress look like for these bigger projects. Once I define those a bit better, I need to figure out how to share those updates with the world.
I know a lot of you reading this are making things too, and most of you are further along on the building-in-public thing than I am. If you’ve figured out what a worthwhile update looks like on a bigger project, I’d love to hear it. What do you share when you don’t have a finished thing to show?
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So I’ve been thinking about this recently too, and my writing mentor shared with me this idea of classics vs content.
Classics are your big projects, the timeless pieces, the “make something heavy” project.
Then there’s content. The purpose of content is to get reps, keep the publishing muscle fresh, and it allows for spontaneity in case there’s a smaller idea I want to explore.
Inspired by this idea, I reduced the cadence of my personal Substack to a more infrequent schedule so I can focus on writing “classic” pieces.
Then I’ll share smaller ideas, stories, and get my reps in by posting on Substack Notes pretty much every day.
You can do both, and both compliment each other!
hey pete! one idea popped into my head while reading - maybe for the apparel brand, you could share with viewers when you get a few samples and test them out. at least when i tried making shirts, i realized i wish i had shared some of the process in development and gotten feedback from people on IG about design or fit choices. I think the average person doesn't know how much goes into making apparel (at least I didn't before I started). I also think showing the process helps get people excited and invested before buying. Lastly, I totally get being mindful about copycats. Maybe when you share some steps along the way, you could cover key part of the design so it's a surprise at the end :)
I'm sure people are going to love it and be excited for the drop!!