The cult of done manifesto

It was written by Kio Stark (writer) and Bre Pettis (maker) in 20 minutes because they 'only had 20 minutes to get it done.'

It is framework to help you get things done and become a maker!

I read it a few months ago. I think of many of the 13 principles every single day. Be warned this framework can change your life for the better, and now I'd like to share it with you.

The first principle is that there are three states of being:

1. Not Knowing

2. Action

3. Completion

1. Not Knowing is the initial stage where you are unaware or lack knowledge about something. It could be a problem, a task, a skill, or any situation. This stage is characterised by ignorance, uncertainty, and curiosity.

2. The next phase is action. This is where you learn, explore, work, or take steps to change your state of not knowing. It involves effort, struggle, practice, and nearly always, mistakes.

3. Completion is the final stage where the task or process is finished or the problem is solved. The state of not knowing has been transformed into knowledge or skill through your action. These three states are cyclical and continuous: after completion, you have a better understanding of the problem, and you very likely have ideas about how to do it again better next time.

Accept that Everything Is a Draft It Helps to Get it DONE

Prototypes make it to production, quick sketches become long-term plans, and things you write down to get them out of your head end up in the final, published book. This is as true for a painting as it is for a starting a business. What you're doing is just a draft, it doesn't have to be perfect, it never will be, even after it's done.

Example: I'm doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won't be big and professional like gnu) - Linus Torvalds, at age 21, creating Linux the OS that supports most of the servers today. Some of the biggest community projects in the world started off with just an idea and a draft.

There is no Editing Stage

Painting has no editing, if you make a mistake YOU START AGAIN. Performing music has no editing, if you make a mistake you keep going and hope the audience didn't notice. And Pottery has no editing, if it comes out of the kiln and you don't like it, smash it to pieces and start again.

I call it my billion-dollar mistake. It was the invention of the null reference in 1965. (Tony Hoare - one of the fathers of programming)

This principle models the way the world actually works. When you release something into the world, be it a book or a program language, you've lost control of it, in a very big way. Learn to accept this. Don't tweak what you've got, make another one.

Pretending You Know what you’re Doing Is Almost the Same as Knowing what You Are Doing So just Accept that You Know what you’re Doing even if You don’t And Do it

This is the age-old advice to "fake it till you make it". I completely agree, this is how I do all my projects, and you should too!

Everyone watches everyone learn in real time!

Banish Procrastination If You Wait More than a Week to Get an Idea DONE Abandon it

You don't necessarily have to throw it away, but you DO have to try something else. When creativity strikes, it flows out of your fingers into your keys, or your paintbrush, or your guitar. But sometimes the muses don't sing. If you write a song a week for a whole year, like my hero Jonathan Coulton here did in 2005, you can't procrastinate! If the end of the week comes without a good finished song, you have to abandon the idea that didn't work, and try the next one. Ideas in your brain are like a pipe, full of random stuff. Some of it will be good, some not so good. If you're not feeling it, don't try to make a bad idea better, try the NEXT idea.

Write 1600 words every single day in November, and by October you will have a novel's worth of raw material. It might be good or it might be bad, but you will have brought out your creativity into the world, and can start editing, or start the next thing.

The point of Being DONE is not to Finish But to Get other Things DONE

Because the point is not to finish, but to move on to the next phase.

You'll be one project better, one project wiser, one project closer to your breakout hit, or viral idea, or a beautiful rug that will finally tie the room together.

Once you’re DONE You Can Throw it away

Once you're done, you can throw it away. You don't have to keep working on it! You're done! Smash the pots! Burn the paintings! The art isn't the art. The art is never the art. The art is the thing that happens inside you when you make it and the feeling in the heart of the beholder.

Laugh At Perfection It’s Boring and Keeps You from Being DONE

Laugh at perfection, it's boring and keeps you from being done. I'm not saying have low standards. I'm saying "you're done". Let it go.

No piece of writing is ever finished...It's just due. - Bill Condon

Your final goal, your end of the project, your deliverable - the thing you're going to get paid to do, comes after you're finished. The 80/20 rule comes into play here too, don't obsess over the final details, make 4 more.

People without Dirty hands Are Wrong Doing Something Makes You Right

Life is full of small-minded people with narrow horizons. And they're all trying to kill you. They'll kill you with words like "be reasonable", "play it safe", and the worst, "stay in your lane". You don't have to listen to these people, you don't have to listen to anyone. I recommend listening to the people who are building the things you love, painting the paintings you love, and writing the music or stories you love.

A small detour, if you will permit me:

Martha Graham was an American modern dancer and choreographer. Her style reshaped American dance and is still taught worldwide, and she has advice for us that I will read verbatim:

There is a vitality, Martha says, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique, and if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium; and be lost. The world will not have it.

It is not your business to determine how good it is, not how it compares with other expression. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open.

No artist is pleased. There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer, divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.

I think Martha would have approved of the Cult of Done.

Failure Counts as DONE So Do Mistakes

Failure is good. If you don't try you can't fail. It took me a long time to realise this. But failure shows you tried. And you know what NOT to do next time. An entrepreneur who succeeds with their first company has learned NOTHING. Someone who fails a few times, has had much better lessons.

Taylor Swift telling you to follow your dreams is like a lottery winner saying, "Liquidise your assets! Buy lottery tickets! it works!"

Destruction is a Variant of DONE

When you're done you can move on to other things. If you destroy the thing, either intentionally or unintentionally, you're still done. Sometimes experimentation requires destruction. You've not failed, says Thomas Edison, famously, you've found 10,000 ways in which it doesn't work.

If You Have an Idea and Publish it on the Internet That Counts as a Ghost of DONE

The muses send some ideas to the wrong mind, I think.

Or the right mind, but with the wrong experience, or skills, or tools.

That idea isn't yours to hide if you can't build it.

Send it out into the world in a post, or a video, and you're done.

You've done your part this time round.

Don't hold on it, imagining you'll do it.

Be honest with yourself, and let others build it for you!

Ideas are worthless, give them away.

DONE Is the Engine Of More

Being done is wonderful. Being done is addictive. Being done is the only way to find out what's next.

Finally here are the 13 principles in full:

1. There are three states of being. Not knowing, action and completion.

2. Accept that everything is a draft. It helps to get it done.

3. There is no editing stage.

4. Pretending you know what you’re doing is almost the same as knowing what you are doing, so just accept that you know what you’re doing even if you don’t and do it.

5. Banish procrastination. If you wait more than a week to get an idea done, abandon it.

6. The point of being done is not to finish but to get other things done.

7. Once you’re done you can throw it away.

8. Laugh at perfection. It’s boring and keeps you from being done.

9. People without dirty hands are wrong. Doing something makes you right.

10. Failure counts as done. So do mistakes.

11. Destruction is a variant of done.

12. If you have an idea and publish it on the internet, that counts as a ghost of done.

13. Done is the engine of more.