Several days ago I wrote about an exciting new project that I couldn’t share yet. I still can’t share it but not for the reason you may be thinking. Secrecy has nothing to do with my decision to keep it to myself.
That’s not to say that I don’t feel a bit protective of this project’s idea. Part of me wants to keep a tight hold on it. While I want this new thing to exist and don’t care if someone else makes it before me, I want the best possible version of it to exist and I know I can create that while you might make something compromised. I’m also really excited about working on this particular problem and I don’t want you to take that away from me.
But I recognize those thoughts and I can let them go. So why am I not sharing this project with you yet?
Because I don’t want to create an obligation yet. This exciting new project can only be a side project right now because I have no guarantee that we will ever make any money from it, and I have bills to pay. So I don’t know how long it will be before I get to devote meaningful time to it. If I tell you about it now you will probably want to know how it is coming along next month and I’ll feel an implicit obligation to share progress with you.
And from experience, I find it very difficult to share a vision for a project with others. A few people will see the vision immediately but the vast majority just won’t. You have to show them something – you have to put it in their hands.
Over the next few months I’ll be working on something to hold in my hand and then I’ll be happy to share it with the world.