Creative Vacuum Project Reset
End a successful commitment before choosing what deserves the empty space
- Difficulty
- Expert
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 6
- Confidence
- 95%
Godin's project reset begins by stopping something before its replacement is known. He ended his successful Akimbo podcast because continuing it meant another project would not happen. If a new opportunity is already waiting, he argues, the result is not a vacuum. A true vacuum feels as if nothing may be worth what was surrendered. Once the space exists, his days may look similar from the outside, but the work changes: he creates many mediocre private experiments, straw people, physical prototypes, and short proposals without shipping junk. This invention cycle creates candidates, but it cannot continue forever because completion and public delivery remain necessary. The framework uses opportunity cost deliberately: remove the incumbent commitment, tolerate uncertainty, generate broadly, and then let a promising project earn the return to shipping.
Origin
Godin explains why he stopped the top-one-percent Akimbo podcast after five years and how he fills the resulting space with unshipped experiments and proposals.
Core principles
- 01Continuing one project prevents another project from existing
- 02A pending replacement means the space is not a true vacuum
- 03The vacuum should feel uncomfortable rather than pre-solved
- 04Private mediocre experiments can precede worthy public work
- 05Shipping still matters after exploration
How to run it
- 1
Name the blocked possibility
Recognize that continuing the current project consumes the capacity required for unknown future work. Evaluate the incumbent by what it prevents, not only by its current success.
Watch out Do not call ordinary scheduling pressure a strategic vacuum.
- 2
Create real empty space
Stop or pause the commitment before a replacement is ready. Leave the capacity genuinely unassigned.
Watch out If another project is already pending, you are switching projects rather than creating a vacuum.
- 3
Tolerate the discomfort
Allow the period when it feels as though nothing will justify what you gave up. Do not immediately refill the space merely to remove uncertainty.
Pro tip Treat discomfort as evidence that the capacity is genuinely open.
- 4
Generate private candidates
Make many rough proposals, prototypes, and thought experiments. Keep them inexpensive and private while testing what is interesting enough to continue.
Pro tip Godin used two-page and five-page book proposals and small laser-cut experiments.
Watch out Do not ship junk simply to prove that the vacuum has been filled.
- 5
Select through sustained interest
Notice which candidate continues to invite work and can become interesting, generous, and worth completing. Let exploration produce evidence rather than forcing an immediate answer.
- 6
Return to shipping
Move the selected work toward completion and public delivery. End open-ended invention before it becomes another form of resistance.
Watch out Joyful experimentation cannot replace the satisfaction and discipline of shipping forever.
In the wild
Godin stopped Akimbo after five years while it ranked in the top one percent of podcasts. He did not stop because he disliked it; he stopped because continuing meant something else would not be done, and he did not have the replacement waiting.
→ The decision created genuinely unassigned capacity for a future project.
As a book packager, Godin's team sold 120 books in ten years while his hard drive held more than 800 unfinished two-page or five-page proposals. Unshipped candidates were part of producing the proposals that could become finished work.
→ Broad private generation supplied the pool from which shippable projects emerged.
Common mistakes
Pre-filling the vacuum
Stopping only after choosing the next project avoids uncertainty but does not create the open capacity Godin is describing.
Shipping exploratory junk
The private invention cycle can contain mediocre work; public output should still clear a higher standard.
Exploring forever
Godin says he still needs the satisfaction of shipping and cannot remain in invention mode indefinitely.
Is it for you?
Best for
Creators whose current work remains viable but crowds out exploration of more meaningful projects.
Not ideal for
People who need the existing commitment for immediate stability and have not bounded the downside of stopping it.
From the transcript
“if I kept doing it there's something else I wouldn't do instead and creating a vacuum is required so that I will do the hard…”
“I am talking about an actual uncomfortable vacuum where you feel like you're never going to work again where nothing can possibly be worth what…”
“I am not shipping public work because I don't ship junk but I am internally creating lots of mediocre work”
From the episode
#728: Seth Godin — Coaching Tim on Overcoming Resistance, Lessons from Isaac Asimov, Writing Secrets After 8,500+ Daily Blog Posts, The Dangers of Authenticity, Practices for Consistency, and Much More
Seth Godin