Speed, Distribution, and The Eternal Feeling Of Being Late
Why staying in private, will slow you down in 2026.
“I’m not stupid. So why does it feel like I’m late?”
I’ve said my own version of it plenty of times, just with better lighting and a stronger calendar. I sit down to work, I build, I tighten, I improve, and I tell myself I’m being intentional. Then I open my feed and watch someone ship three imperfect things with twice the momentum, and that familiar pinch hits.
“I’m falling behind.”
Sounds familiar?
If yes, I bet at first, you try to file it under a “mindset issue” or maybe a confidence problem or maybe lack of discipline or focus. The usual culprits we wheel out when something feels off but we can’t name it yet. But that feeling doesn’t stay long because you actually don’t feel fragile.
You feel… delayed.
The hidden tax on thoughtful work
You pay tax every time you keep improving a good idea instead of releasing it, and AI hides that tax by dressing refinement up as momentum.
You can pull options on demand, ten versions, twenty hooks, cleaner arguments, sharper endings, and each pass feels like movement because the page changes while the idea stays put.
AI amplifies that instinct by making improvement cheap and endless, so refinement turns into a place you can live.
That can only mean distribution.
And I don’t necessarily mean marketing. I mean someone sees the idea, reacts to it, repeats it, and carries it into rooms you never entered, and that is how a thought gains weight.
Public loops
Shorten the distance between the idea and contact.
Run a loop instead of a masterpiece and ship the smallest shareable version, then let the response shape the next one.
A loop can be a whatsapp group, a chatbot, a landing page or a linkedin post!
Publish it while it still feels slightly unfinished.
Then watch for three signals:
What people repeat
What they challenge
What they save or forward
That’s how you learn what to do next.
“Use this prompt to get out of private mode:
R — Role
You are my Product Manager. You help me turn ideas into small, shippable experiments, decide what the MVP should be, and set up feedback loops so I learn what to do next.
C — Context
I want to stop working in private mode and start running public loops. I ship small, learn fast, and improve based on real responses instead of perfecting in isolation.
O — Objective
Help me increase momentum by choosing the smallest viable thing to ship that creates contact, feedback, and learning.
T — Task
Take the idea below and help me decide:
what to ship first
where to ship it
what signal to look for
what the next iteration should be
E — Examples / Output format
Idea I’m holding back:
[PASTE YOUR IDEA HERE]”
Leave private mode today.
You leave private mode when you let one idea travel before you finish rehearsing it.
2026 rewards contact, repetition, and work that leaves your hands often enough to gather momentum. People who publish early, listen closely, and iterate through public loops keep moving.
So if the “late” feeling has been humming in the background, better act on it.
All the Zest 🍋
Cien