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The Reason Why "Good Enough" Is Better Than PERFECT

Anything related to matters of the mind

SparksCW

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Let me tell you a little story about good enough vs perfect.

One day I set out to create videos for my products.

Informative, educational, general videos to show them "in action".

These are products that aren't mainstream, so there isn't much content out there.

I bought a fancy camera, a variety of lenses, back drops, tri pods, lights, electric rotating bases.

You name it. I bought it.

We filmed some bits, edited some bits, finished nothing. Published, nothing.

Created Trello boards of "things to film" and thought up ways of filming, creating sets, wondering how to make it perfect.

Studied lighting, watched YouTube videos, bought and set up microphones.

Tested. Played.

And then one fine day some videos were released onto YouTube, one by one, daily.

Only they weren't ours!

In my quest for "perfectionism" we were beaten to the post. Competitors were releasing content!

The videos aren't fancy, aren't stylish, aren't perfect.

But they do the trick.

So....

Whilst there is nothing wrong with striving for the best, at least start with good enough.

Create videos that are good-enough. Create Facebook posts that are good-enough. Create websites, products, content that is good-enough.

Then optimise and improve.

Don't get me wrong, don't release rubbish products, rubbish content etc.. plan to make it as good as you can from day 1, but don't spend months thinking how to make something better when you haven't even made anything yet.

Plan the project, get it underway...

Launch. Learn. Optimise. Re-Launch

and repeat....

The biggest thing you need to learn from this is that often the difference in time/effort/cost between good enough and perfect does not usually equate to a significant positive difference on your business's bottom line.

Whilst you're planning perfect your competitors will be making bank from good enough!
 
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Last edited:
G

GuestUser450

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100% agree with the sentiment. If you never start, you'll never move forward.

I also think too many folks launch weak ideas to markets that didn't ask for them.

So, there's a difference between hesitating to start and hesitating to build. No one needs much to start - to talk to customers, to offer to work for a first testimonial and start to understand the market. But the product you actually charge for should be world class, on-time, under-budget, overdelivered, with extras.
 

ZF Lee

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Damn true!
Some of my 'worst' posts on Quora actually got the most upvotes.
Oddly enough, they were in topics on high demand such as Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, business mistakes and even politics (especially the ones on North Korea and Malaysia). I just don't understand the public's hero worship on successful entrepreneurs.
I was not an academician.
I wrote like a kid compared to most of the more intellectually-enhanced posters.
While they pulled out facts and statistics, I told stories, bantered, swore and acted quite liberally.
Yet I get upvotes!
Even better, some liked my posts enough to hatch a longer conversation, so I got to talk business with them...and got some leads....

And it actually works here too...I get likes or Reps on some posts of mine I thought were horrible now and then. Although I put more effort into things now, it actually happens.

Ironically, I'd argue that actually imperfection is perfect. As the world around us is imperfect, so to provide an imperfect solution for an imperfect world is best fit. A perfect solution might never match an imperfect solution because both can be universes apart in compatibility.

EDIT: I have done video editing too, and I have never used Trello. I just scribbled shit on rough paper and jumped to the recording and stuff. And I completed a forest adventure editing project in two days. I recorded principal photography with an Iphone, didn't plan any particular shootings, only had a guesswork in my head whether I could meet a monkey in the forest or catch something good to shoot.

I laugh every time I see them herd out with huge cameras. You can just use an Iphone for many video projects, and the quality of the vids they produce are INSANELY clean.
Just shoot the damn thing.
 
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Eskil

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This x 1000. I'm a perfectionist by nature and it has hindered me in the past, but these days I tell people that when I overcame my 'perfectionist' traits - I saw my progress skyrocket as a result of it. It's also the core message of the excellent book Ready, Fire, Aim which I highly recommend. Get SOMETHING done instead of trying to get it right first. In some cases, first impressions are critical, but if you can force yourself not to worry too much about first impressions - allowing yourself to admit that you can always change and improve on things later - you can accomplish things you didn't think possible.
 

Marc B.

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Whilst there is nothing wrong with striving for the best, at least start with good enough.
I'm glad you bolded that line. Starting with good enough allows you to build action-taking momentum, but your image and performance is important. If you plan to position yourself as the premium option, you should eventually strive for perfection.

My mentor has a hard and fast rule: "Good enough is not good enough. Never let 'shit' leave this shop. Ever. Take pride in your work."

He has thrown away, disassembled, and unpacked work that I thought was "good enough" for the customer. He did this to set a standard, and made it my job to hold it. The result? I learned some customers prefer higher-priced products and services when they're justified by leaps in quality.
 

Iammelissamoore

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So....

Whilst there is nothing wrong with striving for the best, at least start with good enough.

Create videos that are good-enough. Create Facebook posts that are good-enough. Create websites, products, content that is good-enough.

Then optimise and improve.

Don't get me wrong, don't release rubbish products, rubbish content etc.. plan to make it as good as you can from day 1, but don't spend months thinking how to make something better when you haven't even made anything yet.

Plan the project, get it underway...

Launch. Learn. Optimise. Re-Launch

and repeat....

The biggest thing you need to learn from this is that often the difference in time/effort/cost between good enough and perfect does not usually equate to a significant positive difference on your business's bottom line.

Whilst you're planning perfect your competitors will be making bank from good enough!

AWESOME - Must Say. I think the important thing is to just start. I used to be one of these action-fakers who believed I had to have everything down perfect before I got around to starting, then, time would just slip by.

When I used to spend wasted time in the past watching meaningless YT vids, one thing I always looked at, especially with established YTbers were the 1st set of vids they'd release where the video was distorted, audio was off, etc. etc., but, bit by bit, you'd see little improvements along the journey till you saw the great, well lit, great content vids. Everything is a journey, and the lesson I learnt was simply that unless we put ourselves out there, we'll never really know what we're capable of.

Thanks for your post, Love it, it's all part of Process over Event.
 
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Iammelissamoore

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I'm glad you bolded that line. Starting with good enough allows you to build action-taking momentum, but your image and performance is important. If you plan to position yourself as the premium option, you should eventually strive for perfection.

My mentor has a hard and fast rule: "Good enough is not good enough. Never let 'shit' leave this shop. Ever. Take pride in your work."

He has thrown away, disassembled, and unpacked work that I thought was "good enough" for the customer. He did this to set a standard, and made it my job to hold it. The result? I learned some customers prefer higher-priced products and services when they're justified by leaps in quality.

Definitely agree a whole lot. My grandmother always had a saying, "Do it well the first time." - that's a general saying, doing it well doesn't specifically mean perfect BUT, it means striving for excellence initially. Quality speaks over quantity any day.
 

letter9

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Let me tell you a little story about good enough vs perfect.

One day I set out to create videos for my products.

Informative, educational, general videos to show them "in action".

These are products that aren't mainstream, so there isn't much content out there.

I bought a fancy camera, a variety of lenses, back drops, tri pods, lights, electric rotating bases.

You name it. I bought it.

We filmed some bits, edited some bits, finished nothing. Published, nothing.

Created Trello boards of "things to film" and thought up ways of filming, creating sets, wondering how to make it perfect.

Studied lighting, watched YouTube videos, bought and set up microphones.

Tested. Played.

And then one fine day some videos were released onto YouTube, one by one, daily.

Only they weren't ours!

In my quest for "perfectionism" we were beaten to the post. Competitors were releasing content!

The videos aren't fancy, aren't stylish, aren't perfect.

But they do the trick.

So....

Whilst there is nothing wrong with striving for the best, at least start with good enough.

Create videos that are good-enough. Create Facebook posts that are good-enough. Create websites, products, content that is good-enough.

Then optimise and improve.

Don't get me wrong, don't release rubbish products, rubbish content etc.. plan to make it as good as you can from day 1, but don't spend months thinking how to make something better when you haven't even made anything yet.

Plan the project, get it underway...

Launch. Learn. Optimise. Re-Launch

and repeat....

The biggest thing you need to learn from this is that often the difference in time/effort/cost between good enough and perfect does not usually equate to a significant positive difference on your business's bottom line.

Whilst you're planning perfect your competitors will be making bank from good enough!
great post!
 

TheRegalMachine

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I suffer from perfectionism and having too much of a high standard.
Lately I have been battling my old habit of wanting the stars to align and the moon to eclipse before I make a move.
Studied a few "successful" people, listened to them tell their stories and most of them didn't have the best gear, materials, or ideas but they did the damn thing. And because they just did it not worrying about presentation but entertainment value they got in the door first. They were able to dominated spaces that didn't exist, literally create the ground floor, and are now looked to by millions not just for entertainment or a service but as role models for what they do.
What we start now with a "just do it" attitude and with enough gusto, trial, error, and refinement can turn into that next big thing to change the world.
It chaps my a$$ to produce at levels I know aren't perfect but it's for the greater good and I have to come to terms with that.
 
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Olimac21

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When I toured Facebook HQ, plastered all over the place was the quote: "Done, Not Perfect."

Yep thats Mark Zuckerberg mentality right there, listened to an interview saying that the most important thing is to ship and then improve from there also because you do not know what the market really wants, first you got to listen and look for improvements.
 

Olimac21

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Let me tell you a little story about good enough vs perfect.

One day I set out to create videos for my products.

Informative, educational, general videos to show them "in action".

These are products that aren't mainstream, so there isn't much content out there.

I bought a fancy camera, a variety of lenses, back drops, tri pods, lights, electric rotating bases.

You name it. I bought it.

We filmed some bits, edited some bits, finished nothing. Published, nothing.

Created Trello boards of "things to film" and thought up ways of filming, creating sets, wondering how to make it perfect.

Studied lighting, watched YouTube videos, bought and set up microphones.

Tested. Played.

And then one fine day some videos were released onto YouTube, one by one, daily.

Only they weren't ours!

In my quest for "perfectionism" we were beaten to the post. Competitors were releasing content!

The videos aren't fancy, aren't stylish, aren't perfect.

But they do the trick.

So....

Whilst there is nothing wrong with striving for the best, at least start with good enough.

Create videos that are good-enough. Create Facebook posts that are good-enough. Create websites, products, content that is good-enough.

Then optimise and improve.

Don't get me wrong, don't release rubbish products, rubbish content etc.. plan to make it as good as you can from day 1, but don't spend months thinking how to make something better when you haven't even made anything yet.

Plan the project, get it underway...

Launch. Learn. Optimise. Re-Launch

and repeat....

The biggest thing you need to learn from this is that often the difference in time/effort/cost between good enough and perfect does not usually equate to a significant positive difference on your business's bottom line.

Whilst you're planning perfect your competitors will be making bank from good enough!

Thats a very good story of an important message. One related question: what could you do to work effectively with other perfectionist? Trying to convince them that you do not have to be perfect to deliver a great work. This is something I have personally struggled in the past.
 

OldFaithful

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One related question: what could you do to work effectively with other perfectionist? Trying to convince them that you do not have to be perfect to deliver a great work. This is something I have personally struggled in the past.
As another individual that has struggled with perfectionism to various degree over the years, I've learned that the following has helped me: A clearly defined and well documented goal.

If the goal of the project is vague, the perfectionist must define the goal for his/her self...and then the goal will become "perfection". If the goal is defined and documented enough, then it can be established to not require perfection. Much easier for everyone involved.
 
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amp0193

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If the goal of the project is vague, the perfectionist must define the goal for his/her self...and then the goal will become "perfection". If the goal is defined and documented enough, then it can be established to not require perfection. Much easier for everyone involved.

I never thought about it this way.

This explains so much.
 

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