Real Artists Ship – A quote attributed to the late, great Steve Jobs. It meant that no matter how brilliant your creation, how clever your solution, or insightful your thoughts were, unless you put it in peoples hands, heads and hearts, it didn’t matter. You had to produce.

This phrase has stuck with me recently. Probably because I have felt stuck. Something I’m sure we can relate to, yes? We all get stuck. Distracted. We get fixated on a problem, admiring all the angles of it, instead of taking our best stab at solving it. And then waking up the next day to see if we were right. I’m guilty of this. Probably my biggest hurdle as a creative. I am a thinker. I like the work I do to be the very best I can possibly do.

Here is the problem: It will never be the best. Even if it is great, it will never measure up to the perfection in my mind that I pursue but don’t ever fully realize. I can—and do—let that perfection keep me from producing. If you are a creative like me, you may have this very same problem.

There is only one way to solve it. Ship.

Shipping is what it should be about. Put the art out there. Put the product on the shelf. Post that blog entry. Move on to the next one. For me, this is 2014. I started this blog with the intent to write consistently. I fell way short this year. Life changes, new relationships, more intensity at the day job. They are all good excuses. Relevant excuses. Perfect excuses.

No more excuses.

This year we ship.