Starting things
Is easy
Finishing
Is
(See what I did there)
Seriously though
It’s not lack of awareness
That the devil’s in the details
It’s that finishing
Is
Work
And often the most
Boring
Tedious
Unrewarding
Long-tail
Pixel-pushing
Type of work
That only stands apart
In its aggregation
(The sum of all small parts)
Or is noticeable
In its absence
The size of the dopamine hit
For the initial rough draft
(The framework,
The sandpile)
Is significant
And so easy to enjoy
And to say
“Yeah that’s good enough”
When
The summation
Of dozens of little efforts
(Trenches,
Turrets,
Seashell decorations)
Might
(And might not—
Let’s be honest)
Conclude
In the release
Of a similar volume of happy chemicals
Not at all commensurate
With the
Exponential
Effort
Exerted
Also
Why risk the possibility
Of criticism
When you can say
“It’s just a sketch, a riff”
Or
“I just banged that out real quick”
Instead of
“I worked all night
For days
And you like it less
Than my token effort
(Perhaps)
So I should have left it
As it was”
But I know
(And the people who have done it know, and have said as much)
That the last ten percent
Is everything
And the secret sauce is
Hard work
(And more hard work)
That makes it look easy
Still
It’s so simple
To just hit Publish
Feel the afterglow
Of having at least done
Something
And go back to
Consuming
Not creating
And try again tomorrow
I wonder which one
This will be
