A Habit That Changed How I Think About Work
There's a particular vulnerability in sharing work that isn't finished, polished, or perfect. For a long time, I avoided it. I'd wait until something was "ready" before showing it to anyone — which often meant never. Working in public has been one of the most uncomfortable and most rewarding shifts I've made professionally.
What Working in Public Actually Means
Working in public doesn't mean broadcasting every move you make. It means making the process — not just the outcome — visible to others. That could look like:
- Writing about what you're exploring before you have conclusions
- Sharing a half-built project with a note about where it's headed
- Publishing a "what I learned this week" post, even when the week felt unremarkable
- Asking questions openly rather than only in private channels
The key is showing the thinking, not just the result.
Why the Discomfort Is the Point
Sharing unfinished work feels risky because it exposes uncertainty. But that exposure creates something valuable: accountability, feedback, and connection — all of which accelerate progress in ways that working privately simply can't match.
When you know others might see what you're building, you tend to be more deliberate. Not performative — deliberate. The act of explaining your thinking to an imagined audience clarifies it for yourself first.
The Unexpected Returns
Some of the most useful conversations I've had started because I shared something half-formed. Someone recognized a problem I was solving because they'd solved a similar one. Someone offered a perspective I hadn't considered. Someone reached out because they were working on something related and we ended up collaborating.
None of that happens if the work stays private until it's "done."
The Perfectionism Trap
Perfectionism and working in public are fundamentally at odds. Perfectionism says: wait until it's good enough. Working in public says: good enough is relative, and the feedback loop that makes things better requires putting them out first.
This doesn't mean publishing sloppy work without care. It means recognizing that the polish you're seeking often comes after the sharing, not before it.
Practical Ways to Start
- Lower the bar for what counts as shareable. A rough idea, a question, a small observation — these all count.
- Choose your audience deliberately. Working in public doesn't mean working for everyone. Start with a small, trusted group if that feels more manageable.
- Label things clearly. "This is a work in progress" sets expectations and removes the pressure of presenting a finished product.
- Separate publishing from promotion. Putting something out there doesn't mean campaigning for attention. Share it once, genuinely, and let it find its people.
The Long Game
Working in public builds something quietly over time: a record of your thinking, an audience that follows the journey, and a habit of articulating what you know. The compounding effect of doing this consistently — even sporadically — is hard to overstate. It's one of the most valuable professional investments I know of that requires no budget and almost no time.