What (And Where) To Share

We had a handheld label maker when I was a kid that stressed me out a ton.

It was like a calculator that printed strips of whatever text you wanted, that you could then peel from the backing paper and stick to stuff. I think it was to help with organizing boxes in the basement, but the kinds of things my siblings and I actually ended up using the label maker for mostly flipped between pulling pranks, and helping my step-sister, Ali, with whatever Spanish vocab words she was working on at the time.

I loved the idea of that label maker. But, truth be told, it also made me pretty uncomfortable because it pressured me to choose a succinct way of describing multiple things. And I felt that was something that deserved significant consideration. Everyone else didn't seem as bothered by it, but I needed to find the common threads. That's what stressed me out. I struggled with whether things should be grouped together based on what they were used for, or just by what they were.

Was that a box of "art supplies" or "school stuff"?

And where should the post-it notes go?

This morning, while re-reading something by Austin Kleon, I felt my chest tighten, remembering that stupid label maker. I've written about his book Steal Like An Artist before, and even alluded to his philosophy of Showing Your Work, too. Well, I started re-reading Show Your Work and it's already helped me untangle a few things that have been tripping me up. Specifically, I like how Austin differentiates between Process and Product.

From a Process perspective, I specialize in brand strategy and operations. But the Product(s), at least with regard to my work with Unobstructed, are stories—columns, essays, and podcast episodes.

One is the organized box with a label, the other is a look into how it came together.

I'm still figuring out exactly what that means, but I think it means derekmacdonald.com is the container for Process and theunobstructed.com is the container for Product(s). At least, that's what my mini whiteboard brainstorm revealed.

So, today I worked on developing the backend infrastructure of derekmacdonald.com to support a blog. Because another area where I'm taking a closer look at Process vs Product is the shared space—and inevitable handoff—between display and distribution. Which is why I'm taking some time to consider whether or not to create a separate Substack for Process stuff.

Really, though, my hesitation is with building on rented land. That's a big reason this column lives on its own website.

Clearly I still wrestle with what to share and where to share it.

But recognizing it as part of the process helps.

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Our Daily MAP Year Prompt
175/365

Do you think about which parts of yourself to share and where to share them?

onward.

For more on this daily column and The MAP Year Project, read the backstory here. And if you know someone who'd appreciate this, pass it along.