Someone on my email list asked me: "How do you get over perfectionist tendencies, and put stuff out there?"
The first thing out of my head was:
"You don't really learn until you ship."
You can tinker with something, and try to get it perfect. But until you get real-world feedback on it, you won't really know how valuable it is. The longer you sit on a project, the more it festers. Putting it out in public, and seeing people's response, is what gives your work oxygen.
The other thing I've learned: the more frequently you ship, the easier it gets. Shipping small updates, more frequently, is like putting in your reps at the gym.
The best way to start? I try to put something (small) out in public every day. For me, this can be a bit of code, a tweet, a forum response, a blog post, a podcast. For you, it could mean sharing some code on CodePen, hosting a meetup, or doing a livestream.
Ship something small every day. Eventually, it will become a habit, and you won't overthink it anymore.
(At least, this is what's worked for me).
Hope this helps you too,
Justin Jackson
@mijustin
This article was originally published on July 3rd, 2016. It's been updated since then.