Done Is Better Than Perfect

Last week I finished reading Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg at the suggestion of a colleague. One statement Sandberg makes in the book has really stuck with me, "Done is better than perfect."

I know many people, myself included, who are perfectionists which leads to procrastination. I suspect we worry about what others will think of us if we do not produce perfect results. We waste time on things that are not really important when we should be attacking the issues that we have the most problems with and get our products out there.

I have been binge listening to the CodeNewbie podcast and in one episode the guest quoted Reid Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn: "If you're not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you've launched too late." This made me realize it is better to get websites published and have under construction pages for things that are still in the works, than to have nothing published at all. No one will know what you are capable of if you have nothing to show them.

I have been challenging myself lately to get stuff published and last night it paid off. I received a text from a referral asking if I make websites and logos and I was able to say, "Yes! Here is some of my work." Are the sites completely done? No; however, they are complete enough that the person was happy with what he saw and offered me work.

So challenge yourself to stop procrastinating, do something, and put it out there.