Launches

You’ve been working on it for weeks, maybe months. Planning, coordinating, communicating, cajoling, cat-herding… whatever it takes. And finally, the day comes when you are ready to launch.

Maybe it’s a big project that’s consumed multiple months for you and your coworkers. Or an event, like a music festival or birthday party or tradeshow booth, that required meticulous effort and organizational synchronicity to pull off. Maybe it’s that culmination of creative output — the book you’ve been writing, the side business you’ve transmuted into a full-time affair, the game you’ve designed and playtested. As Steve Jobs famously said, “Real artists ship.”

Launching anything is inherently fearful. Our lizard brain tells us it’s going to fail, WE’RE going to fail, that it’s not ready, that we shouldn’t ship it yet. Which means overcoming that instinct for flight is even more momentous.

While you may say it’s about the journey, not the destination, it’s still a relief to stop asking yourself “are we there yet?” and to mark the milestone. Yes, we’re there. You did it. Were there things you’d differently? Sure. Are there still things to fix? Of course. But that doesn’t matter right now, in this moment in time. You launched. You did it.

Acknowledge the joy of launch day with you and your teams. Well done.