Updates

Just about every morning when I open my iPhone I see a little red badge over the App Store letting me know I have an app with an update.

Sometimes it's a small fix for a bug I never even noticed.  Other times it's an exciting new user interface to dazzle me.  Maybe it's that feature I've always wanted and wrote so much feedback about.  You never know until you open it.  It's like App Christmas.

But it's also a reminder that no matter how much I love my favorite Apps- they're never quite done.  There are always improvements.  They're always getting better.

Walt Disney once said that what he loved about his theme parks more than his movies was that the parks were alive and always changing.  Once a movie was done, it was done.  (George Lucas proved him wrong, but let's not digress...)

The point is this- don't be afraid to update.  And, because of that, don't be afraid to ship.  Quit waiting for it to be right and simply make it "be." 

You can always update later. 

Inspiration

It can come from anywhere.  A quote, a picture, a simple random thought.  And it's happening constantly.  Every moment of every day, you're being bombarded with sensory overload- any one input perhaps holding the key to sparking a fire.

How to you manage that? 

First, you have to be open.  You have to be aware, alert, and accepting of these new ideas and perspectives.  You have to acknowledge them.

Second, you have to be discriminating.  You can't waste time trying to coddle a bad idea.  Let those go- the quicker the better.  Push them out to make room for the new ones that hold more promise.

How will you know when it's the right one?  You'll feel it.  If all you can do is rationalize, if all you can do is analyze- you're doing it wrong.  The best inspiration doesn't hit us rationally.  It hits us emotionally.  It sparks us.  Kindle those fires.  They will burn brightest.

Don't Fight the Current

When you live in Florida, you grow up with rip currents.  Times when the water flow off the beach becomes particularly strong and can easily sweep swimmers away.  Strong, experienced swimmers have lost their lives to rip currents because they try to swim against them.  The fight like a salmon to forge ahead and eventually succumb to exhaustion. 

So you're taught from a young age that if you get caught in a rip current, don't try to swim against it.  Instead, you take an angle and let it move you along while you work your way back to shore.  You may end up many miles from where you started and have to walk back, but your chances of survival are better.

Change can be much the same way.  Sometimes we don't see it coming and we are quickly swept up in a fast moving current.  One that we often cannot control or stop.  And if you try to fight that change head on, you may just exhaust yourself and be done.

Instead, when the change you're facing is too powerful to stop, lean into it and look for way to change course just enough to get back to safety.  Even if you eventually have to walk your way back, it's important to realize when you can't fight the tide.  Don't fight the current.  But don't think you're stuck wherever it leaves you either.