‘Done’ is way better than ‘perfect’: Shaping the Future
Why making a messy(ish) move is better than your most polished plan
If you are not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late. — Reid Hoffman, Founder of LinkedIn
When I first heard this I rolled my eyes.
‘Sigh’ I thought, ‘another successful Silicon Valley entrepreneur sharing sexy soundbites that aren’t applicable to my life’. (What can I say, I’m a skeptic.)
Many of us live in a society that praises and rewards people who get things exactly right. But the truth is, pursuing perfection every time only works when there’s an established system — for example in a traditional school or in a large organisation where you are expected to complete a standard set of processes.
In these environments, you’re contributing to decades — and even centuries — of systems created for tiny inputs. With an arsenal of size, reputation and resource (time, money, people etc.) there is more scope to invest energy in finding the perfect answer, for the first time, everytime. Not very lean.
But when you’re creating an idea from scratch your arsenal of tried and tested processes is pretty slim. Look for it, and you might just be searing into infinity. Many times your vision will exceed the provision of resource (time, precedent, proven methods). And that means you’ve got to think and act a faster than what these established systems typically require.
When we first started WAVEMAKERS, the aesthetic perfectionist in me wanted every single colour, word and image to be exactly how I imagined it. And while there were, and still are times where this visionary stubbornness has paid off, more often it has also slowed me down.
Here’s a visual representation of how it works:
The truth is, sometimes overdoing it doesn’t add any value — it just makes things worse.
So, you’ve got to be relentless is asking yourself:
“What is vital here and what’s merely trivial?”
“Is my desire to be right and obsession with the minutiae hurting or helping this project?”
“Is it absolutely necessary for me to keep DRAGGING this issue?”
It’s likely the answer is a big, juicy no. It’s likely that the same level of impact you can create at 100% perfection, is the same at 70% or 80% perfect.
And for the perfectionists out there who, like me, shudder at the thought of putting something out there that’s a little imperfect — remember this: when breaking new ground, attaining perfection on day one (or day one hundred) is an illusion — because what you’re creating has never really existed, so there is no right answer. The search for perfection will just keep going, and going… and going.
Adopting this mindset doesn’t mean you don’t put in any effort — in fact you give your all to that 80% — you’ve just gained enough discernment to exclude what’s not essential.
Unless you’ve got a crystal ball, you simply can’t be always right the first time. We must experiment, gather feedback and iterate as we go along .If not, you will forever be playing catch-up — or worse, never get into the game.
Your turn: what areas of life or your career can you let go of a bit? What opportunities have you missed by trying to be 100% right?
Give this post a ‘clap’ if it helped you.
This is the second diary entry in our WAVEMAKERS shaping the future series. To learn more what it takes to shape your future, visit wavemakerslive.com and become a WAVEMAKER today. #STFDiaries
