Done is better than perfect
2024-09-14
Did you ever want to start a project, but feel like it is just too complicated to handle and there's nowhere to start? Or even worse, never started it, because you knew you couldn't make it perfect? If you are anything like me, you will have been at this point at least once and probably know in hindsight that you should have just started earlier actually doing something. So, let's talk about this psychological barrier and explore the valuable mindset of "Done is better than perfect" in this article...
Believe it or not, but most things we see online or in the real world are already polished to an extreme degree before we even see them. This has to do with the fact that we can't be early adopters or experts in all fields and mass-market media coverage through ads or a hands-on is expensive. Thus only the very "best" (whatever that might mean to the industry) products ever get there. Besides potentially creating a desire to buy such a product, this selective presentation of projects also creates internal pressure to meet this level of craftsmanship with everything you do as well and fosters the fear of anything less being worthless. It might not be an indented side effect, but such a fear obviously promotes mindsets like "I'm just gonna save my efforts and not bother with it" leading to you buying products instead of building your own solutions - something the industry won't be mad about as it drives sales.
But know what? Everything started out somewhere (I don't even want to know how first iteration beauty products etc. look like and what unwanted side effects they have) and there's nothing to fear about getting started. Most people don't even try and even if you fail or create another worst-case outcome, you are likely already ahead of them, because you will for sure have learned something along the way. So just get started and don't feel ashamed to publish crappy stuff for quite a while - the value lies in getting started in the first place, not being perfect from the beginning. This is what the mindset "Done is better than perfect" reflects really well. It's basically like a kind of "Just do it", but with an emphasis on the fact that you will be glad to have done something, even if it's far from perfect. It doesn't want to glorify sloppy work though - it's purely about valuing a not-perfect, but done work higher than a not-started, but potentially perfect one.
What matters are real-world results existing right now, not meticulously planned projects for the future that never come to reality. You really have to move away from planning and start doing something after a certain point. This point can be hard to determine, but as a rule of thumb one can say: If you are thinking "Have I done enough research or should I get back to planning?", just start working on a first prototype. You will make countless mistakes along the way anyway, so failing fast and cheap will save you a lot of headaches in the long run. Another possible approach I recently heard about and that has already become useful for me is to think about the worst-case scenario. If you are able to handle it and it won't destroy your entire life, why not start the project and give your idea a shot? There's really nothing important to lose and just a lot of experience, knowledge and potentially attention or money to win. On that note, it usually helps me to set some arbitrary (ideally even impossible) deadlines for some projects in the early stages, since this creates an internal feeling of urgency and makes it more likely for you to actually start doing something.
With that said, the next time you have to get a project done and wonder about starting now or later, just say to yourself "Done is better than perfect" and get started. Feel free to share your thoughts and experiences in the comments down below and have a lovely day...
PS: This one is a bit shorter than usual, since I'm actually working on something new and time-consuming right now. Stay tuned!