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Do The Work! 91

In the belly of the beast,
you and I chose HEAVEN.
We’ve learned and we’re stronger.
Now we face the final test.

Exposure

In mountaineering, there’s a technical term called “exposure.” A
climber is exposed when there is nothing but thin air beneath her.

She can be a hundred feet from the summit of Everest and not
be exposed, if there’s a ledge or a shelf below. Conversely, she can
be in shorts and a tank top down at the beach, practice-climbing
on a boulder ten feet tall, and be completely exposed—if there’s
a fall beneath her.

When we ship, we’re exposed.

That’s why we’re so afraid of it. When we ship, we’ll be judged.
The real world will pronounce upon our work and upon us.
When we ship, we can fail. When we ship, we can be humiliated.

Here’s another true story:

The first professional writing job I ever had, after seventeen
years of trying, was on a movie called King Kong Lives. I and