I have a Post-it on my wall that reads: “Done is better than perfect!” (with an exclamation point, because sometimes I have to yell at myself!).
I got the phrase from a client who saw it written with a sharpie on the wall of her break room. She’s in the tech industry.
It refers to the ideas of iterative development and design thinking, the belief that perfect things are rarely made perfect in private.
You need input, fingers pointing, attention waning. Otherwise you’ll never see your blind spots.
This is especially true with innovation: building something new, whether it’s a business plan or a work of art; a product or a perspective.
One of my own pitfalls is staying in the workshop too long. I know I’m not alone on this.
I love the workshop — a safe domicile for my brightly colored creativity — but until my ideas reach another eyes, ears, or hands, my impact is limited. I’m trapped in my own opinions and feelings. And, as much as I’d like to believe I see every angle of everything, that’s just not true .
Ideas are like beautiful birds. Better to take them outside and let them breathe, soar, and sing, even if they’re not fully groomed.
They’ll sound different outside the workshop. And, once you realize that vulnerability is much better than invisibility, and that criticism beats the hell out of cynicism, your ideas can finally take flight.