Can you afford perfection? Do you need to?
I was talking with someone the other day and they said the following: Too many people want to hold out for The Perfect Option and they never finish. Instead they should be focusing on The Best Option. Where they can get something done and move on to the next thing.
So, the question posed at the beginning of this post is … Can you afford perfection?
I think the answer is both yes and no. There are times when perfection is needed, but when perfection is sought it’s almost impossible to finish.
So, at what point do you just ship it and go with The Best Option?
Perfection … by definition:
1. The condition, state, or quality of being free or as free as possible from all flaws or defects.
If you take the definition of perfection at face value you will realize that eventually you will need to consider the task “good enough” and at this point realize that you are confident enough that you can go with what you have as The Best Option.
Call It What You Want
Seth Godin says Just Ship It in his book Linchpin. And as I wrote about in a post in 2011 about his book … Your Goal is to be the one that SHIPS. In order to be the one that ships you will need to make the hard decisions, you will need to make trade offs and you will need to Ask The Hard Questions.
A few ways to think about Comparing The Perfect Option to The Best Option. When you are doing it right you will be able to say these about yourself, your team and your projects. The good news is … when you do so consistently so will others.
- Ship It
- Move The Needle
- Make Something Happen
So, call it what you want and when you do, you will Stand Out in Your Career and you will be remembered as well as sought out. Your reputation will precede you and you will be recognized for your ability to Seek Perfection while going for The Best Option.
Good luck in your efforts and I look forward to seeing what you ship next.
