Ed. note: This post is appropriate because we’re “shipping” our son to the world in just a few hours.  Wish us luck!  Posting may be slow for a little while as we adjust to a bigger family, but if you’re signed up for email updates, Twitter, or RSS, you may not even notice!

If you work in the tech industry, you’ve undoubtedly heard the phrase, “Real artists ship”.  It’s a quote attributed to Steve Jobs, the founder and current CEO of Apple, as a motivator for the development team of the original Macintosh computer.

In this context, shipping means getting your product out the door and into the hands of the world.  But it could mean submitting your term paper, completing a big sale, or finishing a year-long boat renovation.  Life is full of projects like these that could go on indefinitely, but ultimately have to ship in order to make a difference. 

If these projects don’t ship, they’re just hobbies.  If they don’t ship, they were just fun ideas – and ideas are a dime a dozen… everyone has good ideas.  But shipping… that’s hard.  And the rewards of shipping are reserved for the few that are able to do it, not the people who first thought of the idea.

The “problem” with starting a project with the expectation that it’ll ship is that it imposes all sorts of constraints.  The technology isn’t where you need it to be, you don’t have the time you need to do everything you want to do, or you don’t have the people or money.  In order to truly think “outside the box” you need a team that’s twice as big with twice as much money and faster computers!  Of course that’s all bogus.

Constraints are why things ship.

If you didn’t have a deadline to submit your term paper, you could tweak it forever.  If you didn’t have customers waiting for the next version of your software or competitors breathing down your neck, you could add every feature you’ve ever thought of.  You need constraints to really think about how to best solve a problem.  Constraints are good.

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Seth Godin makes an interesting observation in his book Tribes about the key difference between a thermometer and a thermostat and how it’s reflected in human nature.  He says that a thermometer is great for identifying when something is broken after the fact while a thermostat does it’s best job to regulate temperature to stay in sync with its environment.  Thermostats are leaders while thermometers are just squeaky wheels.

To put it another way:

• Thermometers like to criticize once a direction is chosen.  They’re always first to notice when something is wrong, but can’t take the necessary steps to fix it.  They’re the armchair quarterbacks of the world and are great at telling you what you already know.  The thermometer has an ability to lead only in so much as hindsight is 20/20.  They can’t plan or adapt to changes.
• Thermostats take the temperature of the room first and then put a plan in place to adapt.  They’re the leaders and the visionaries, and the people you rely on to stay calm in a crisis and lead you to the next level.  Thermostats are able to work past criticism and negativity and push forward even when the odds are against them.  Thermostats exhibit self-control and stability.

Naturally there are corollaries in the business world but what about for personal growth and achievement?  When I read this I immediately thought about the high-achievers I know and how they approach their lives.  They’re all gifted in keeping things in balance and staying in control – events and people don’t inject drama into their lives because they don’t let them.  They understand the factors at work and adapt accordingly with time to spare.  They aren’t prone to wild swings in “temperature”.

This description also reminds me of one of my favorite Bruce Lee quotes, which is a key lesson in Zen philosophy: “Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily cracked, while the bamboo or willow survives by bending with the wind.”  Thermostats are masters at adaptation.

Thermostats don’t like to spend time with thermometers because it’s almost always counter-productive for them, making everything harder than it needs to be.  Thermometers hold people back through negativity and second-guessing while thermostats do what needs to be done.  It’s all about learning, adjusting, and driving ahead.

So… are you a thermostat or a thermometer?