It’s the same conundrum every time I create something. I can make it so much better. I can give it more magic. Just a couple more days and it will be solid.
A composition is never “finished”.
An artwork is never “finished”.
A newsletter post goes through obsessive edits until it’s down to the point that it might as well be an X post.
An app never feels like it has enough features to be worth sharing. The buttons need to be fancier. The onboarding process needs to be like the one on that YouTube video. The checklist just to get to MVP grows longer as a new brilliant idea pops up every day.
When is enough enough? When do you just ship the damned thing? Just SEND IT bro.
It wasn’t always easy for me to say “good enough” (I still never say that) and release the piece/article/product when I didn’t think it was absolutely mind-blowing. And it still isn’t easy, but after years of debilitating perfectionism I’ve learned to see the forest for the trees and to know what “finished”/MVP actually looks like after having released creative work with some regularity.
A Few Lessons I’ve Learned
On Perfectionism
It’s socially acceptable to present your perfectionism as discipline or having high standards, but its real function is protection, which is based in fear. You can have an eye for detail and sense for greatness, but if you never ship the damned thing nobody cares how good you are.
If your problem is defined by a fear of failure and the need for approval, then consciously practicing the opposite of those things will immediately dissipate the problem.
I’ve learned that it can be a very liberating feeling to have an expectation of “failure” and to just see what happens when putting a creative work out there. You also have to define failure. What exactly will it mean to have failed? What exactly are you expecting? And will you die a slow painful death if what you’re hoping for doesn’t work out? Chill.
It’s also fun to lean in to being misunderstood. Be a little extra confusing. You don’t need a lot of friends. You already know who the real ones are. If people judge you for something you made through genuine interest or because it was just super fun, they are the ones suffering. There’s a tightness, a tension in their mind. And some people just don’t vibe with whatever your doing. Perfect, they’re not your people and obviously not playing the same game. Now you can focus on the ones who get it. If you are as real as you can be and doing your thing 100%, you can’t lose. You do you, even if it means you’re the “weird” one or the “failure” or whatever. It’s not that deep. Everybody is going to the same place. There’s no such thing as good or bad or better or worse. The real question is: who’s having more fun? Problem dissipated.
Nothing Is Really Finished
Every creation is part of a work in progress. If you see your life and work as a continuum rather than building towards a finish line, you don’t have to put so much weight on a single output. That’s not to say you should produce mediocre work. Produce the best work you are capable of and do things that make you stretch beyond your current capability. Doing great work makes for a fulfilling life. It just feels good. But you need to see the forest for the trees.
When it comes to a piece of music or an artwork, it may be static in that it can’t be updated once it’s released, but it’s a capture of a moment, an idea, a concept in a larger scheme of works and ideas that will be released throughout your lifetime. If it’s something like an app, you will continue improving on it and there is no better way to improve on it than by releasing it and getting real user feedback. If you continue perfecting beyond the main functions before releasing it, you’re operating in a space of fake projection, guessing what users will care about. You’ll find that the focus will be very different after users demonstrate what’s actually important to them.
Does The Thing Do The Thing?
The best way to prevent a continuous perfection cycle is to have a hard deadline. You can’t get too precious when there is a due date. You’re forced to focus on the main intention of the work. Does it say what it needs to say? If you don’t have a deadline, make one and have someone hold you accountable. Otherwise, learn to prioritize the main function of the work. Get it working, then if you have extra time you can decorate or perfect it a little, but this can fall into fear-based perfectionism if not checked.
If it’s an app or product that will continue to be improved after initial release, ship the damned thing if you can check these boxes:
1. Does the core function work?
2. Can someone use it without explanation?
3. Does it deliver the main value it promises?
If yes:
Just SEND IT bro.
Here’s some art:
’Letting Be’ by Hopi
See high quality GIF and purchase here.
Thanks for reading,
-LW❤️🔥
When I was writing every week I would always have a problem with rereading it and then editing something. Reread again then edit some more. It was never enough. It got to the point where I had to just tell my self, it's time. Just send it bro.
I enjoyed the read Lone.