What Do I Know?

I know you don’t always have to get it right.

What the heck does that mean, you don’t always have to get it right?

It means just that; it is OK to sometimes not get it completely correct.

Let me explain a little.

How many times have you had a project where you were so concerned about getting it exactly right that you snapped? I don’t mean that they had to send you to the loony bin, what I mean is that you caused yourself so much stress that the quality of your work actually went down!

Or, even worse, you didn’t get it done at all?

I’ve been there, done that.

I once had to write a paper about blueberries (Yes, blueberries. Don’t ask...) I spent so much time making sure that it was 100% right that I ran out of time and had to turn in my rough draft!

So you see, trying to get it right all the time is sometimes counterproductive.

I don’t mean that you should accept mediocrity.

I don’t mean that leaving mistakes uncorrected is OK.

I don’t mean you shouldn’t pay attention to details.

What I do mean is that you should not allow yourself to get bogged down in the pursuit of perfection.

Too many people get so concerned with making it perfect that they don’t even start! How many times have you seen a perfectionist fail because they couldn’t get it exactly right?

Trust me, it is much better to have some mistakes than to have nothing at all!

The important thing, as my coach says is this: “You don’t have to get it right, you just have to get it going!”

Mistakes will happen. Errors will be missed.

But....

Perfection will come. Quality work will happen if you focus your efforts.

I know that all of you are capable (some of you are probably even more capable than I) of creating some fantastic work!

So go get started!