just, ship.
you are a gift.
we were put on this planet as a gift. and were each given gifts that enable us to create, to build, and to ultimately make the world better. and we have a responsibilty to share that gift. we have a responsibility to ship.
but, fear. fear leads to excuses. excuses are internally justified and our creation is unjustly sentenced to death. or worse a life of solitary confinement. half-made and barely alive. forever locked away. never to see the light of day. indeed, it is a cruel thing. and doubly so because we can still see her there. we want to help her escape. we tell ourselves that one day we will. because we love her. and we understand her potential. what she can give to humanity. and in our core we know she deserves her freedom. we know others deserve to meet her. but, instead, we leave her there. and she haunts us. constantly a reminder of what could have been. we tell ourselves that one day we will break her out. that we’ll work up the courage and fortitude to set her free. that eventually the world will have the chance to meet her. but instead we let ourselves get “busy”, choosing to go on depriving her and thus everyone else.
the three t’s — time, talent, and treasure
in the first post of 2021 we talked about time. today, we’re looking at the second t — talent.
Andy Hertzfeld described in a series of stories how Steve Jobs would inspire his team to deliver by focusing on short, simple, and easy to remember phrases. what the late CEO called “sayings of Chairman Jobs”. one of those was “Real Artists Ship”. by not shipping they were not behaving like artists and thus were not “real” artists.
we are all artists, uniquely made and individually endowed with gifts. though, often, we don’t act like artists. out of fear, we don’t ship. or worse, we ignore the gift altogether. the best artists don’t just ship though. the best artists pay attention to the details, promote beauty, and strive to point to something greater than themselves.
“but i don’t have a talent”
you may feel like you are not talented at a particular skill. but what about that thing you can’t stop thinking about? that which consumes your entire self? that thing when you do it you often lose track of time and space. that is your inner compass pointing you to your talent.
we tend to limit the definition of talent to include only those skills that we are naturally good at. but this is inaccurate. recall that the origin of the word ‘talent’ is in reference to weight. and that weight was used to determine worth. we determine our worth by our sense of self. and our self is by definition who we are. and who we are is what compels us; what captivates us and demands our attention.
thus talent can be better defined as that which devours you while providing value but is never satisfied; a fire that is never quenched. this sounds close to, but should not be confused with, passion. passion is an emotion and is fleeting and often short-lived. talent goes deeper than that and is all-consuming with traces of it found in everything you do.
we may or not come out of the womb a natural phenom. but we have been uniquely entrusted with specific talent(s) all the same. and we will not feel joy or satisfaction until we invest in it. and ultimately, ship, by placing it in the marketplace or donate it to society.
notes from middle school
in the sixth grade i had a friend named amy jo. we weren’t the popular kids in school and looking back i guess we were both kind of awkward. we wore the same style of clothes — dark, baggy, and drab — whatever was easy to hide behind. but mostly we connected around music. one day i gave her a note. in it i told her that i wanted to make music. that i believed music could be used to make people happy. music made me happy and i saw that it made her happy too. it made me forget my pain.
my mom saved up everything she had and bought me a guitar. i couldn’t put it down. i wouldn’t put it down. i even slept with it. i would effortlessly play for 6–8 hours a day and feel like it had only been 20 minutes. i was able to lose myself in it. i took it everywhere with me and played every chance i got. i even kept it in my football locker so that i could play before and after practice.
sports is what came natural to me. i was good at football. though i didn’t fit in with the athletic crowd, everyone told me i had “natural talent”. but i was mostly good because i was angry. i had a quick temper and a motor that wouldn’t stop. i wanted to hit someone. i wanted to hurt someone. and, personally, i didn’t care whether i lived or died.
speed + drive + wanting to inflict pain on someone + not being afraid to die is an equation that lead to success as a football player. i was praised for my “athletic ability” and earned varsity as a freshman. then suddenly that trajectory was stopped dead in its tracks when a season-ending injury literally crushed all progress. my self-worth plummeted even further when two surgeries later it was clear that i was not going to have the opportunity to live up to everyone else’s expectations.
once i was finally able to return to school, amy jo gave me a note. it was the note that i had given her three years earlier. on it she had written “the music you write will make others happy”. i was 15. i began writing music and it did make others happy. but more importantly, it made me happy. so much so, that my science teacher gave me the nick-name ‘smiley’. that note changed my life.
i had been a skilled and effective football player, but now i was focused on my true talent. and it gave me so much joy, even in the pain and confusion of my home-life. and it continues to give me joy to this day.
invest in yourself. your true self. not necessarily what others say you should do. but what you know you should do. only you know what you were created to do. what holds weight and consumes your entire self. this is your talent. exercise it. ship it. now, more than ever, the world needs it.
thanks for reading. and thank you for the courage to share your gift with the rest of the world! 🤘
— cmac
January 19, 2021 7:05am CST
