The Thing I Write Down Before Every Launch and Never Show Anyone

Before every launch I write one page about what I am afraid of.

Not a plan. Not a checklist. Just the honest list of everything I think could go wrong and everything I am secretly hoping does not happen. The thing I do not say out loud on launch day.

It is not for anyone else. It does not go into any document. I write it, and then I launch, and then I read it a week later.

What I have learned from doing this is that about a third of my fears are real and worth planning for, about a third are things I cannot control, and a third are just anxiety wearing the costume of insight.

The point is not to act on all of it. The point is to get it out of my head so it stops shaping decisions from underneath.

Do you have a ritual like this before something risky? And has it ever caught a fear that turned out to be real?