To use now ...or saving it for ‘best’

I bought a new notebook three months ago. And there it sits on the shelf. All new and unused. Just like the outfits in my childhood wardrobe, waiting for ‘Sunday best’. 

Similarly, when people buy my book ‘Visual Mojo’ I tell them it’s been designed for them to write in it. It’s a true work-book. 

But many people don’t write in it. They want to save it, for best. 

We save the best cutlery for special guests. 
We hold the best crockery back for the most notable occasions. 
And we save our best tools for the perfect job. 

But as we work on a rough draft or a first cut of something, it’s ok to use the good tools, the special equipment, the best that you’ve got. 

It builds our confidence when we use the good stuff. 

We become less fearful, less hesitant and we worry less about going for perfect. We learn to trust ourselves more. 

But most of all, if we can’t use the best stuff today ... when will we use it? 

In times like these, every day is a day for using the best!

Good leadership means knowing when to go for 'good enough

Good leadership means knowing when to go for 'good enough' - for yourself and your team.

An article in CEOWORLD magazine explains how increments and iterations are the new perfect.

How do you do it?

1. Set a course for good enough rather than the pointless pursuit of perfection.

2. Stop expecting or requiring perfection. Accept first drafts, rough cuts and mock ups. The design industry and many other sectors thrive on them, gaining early feedback, ensuring efficiency of work going forward.

3. Make the standard clearer. Great leaders clarify the end goal or outcome, beyond a generic call for ‘high quality or ‘really good’. Explain the standard in a measurable way.

4. Improve over time. Allow learning, iterations and insights to build on first attempts.

The best and brightest organisations know the power of improving over time rather than expecting perfect. Most of all, assess whether you can go for ‘ish’ - somewhat, near enough - on more things, where near enough is good enough. Is 'ish' feasible, doable or acceptable? It’s a major productivity gain and it’s more motivating for teams when they complete work.

Hey, didn’t you write and release that book last year, Lynne?

Hey, didn’t you write and release that book last year, Lynne? I’ve mentioned recently that my book ‘ish: The Problem with our Pursuit for Perfection and the Life-Changing Practice of Good Enough’ is out!

People have asked, 'But didn’t you release it last year? What’s with it being out now? Again?'

The book is about perfectionism and the increasing problem it presents in the world today. One of the ways we can tackle perfectionism I think, is to work in:

- increments (smaller packets or chunks of work, rather than trying to work on the w-h-o-l-e of a project) and,

- iterations (improving on things over time, as we release new or updated versions). This works well for reports, presentations, websites, blogs … yes, and books.

I released a couple of iterations of the book last year and got feedback and insights from people who’d read it. They let me know what they thought. Now I’m up to the 5th iteration.

Each version improving on the previous one. And it’s time to stop; it’s done. We can always, always work some more on our projects and make them better. But work in increments and iterations and you’ll get feedback to make things good enough to go 'live'.

Look again. What's good enough to go live?