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When is it Great Enough?
Dawn and I spent weeks putting the finishing touches on my
latest book, "
It's
often a tough call--particularly when it's your "baby."
Most projects can be fiddled with, tweaked, polished and revised to the point
where they never actually get done.
For many people, this can be a way to keep from failing. If
the book, thesis or work of art is always in progress, then no one will judge
it. What looks like a desire for perfection is often simply fear of failure.
I expect there are many of you reading this who are close to
finishing something dear to you, but you seem to find excuses for not bringing
the project to completion. Perhaps you have a number of unfinished projects.
Remember that nothing is ever perfect. You'll always think of ways you could
have made it better, sleeker, more efficient and with additional features.
But I like what my friend Mike Litman
says, "You don't have to get it perfect, you just have to get it going."
Get it launched. Get it working.
You can improve upon it later. Anything worthwhile is worth improving upon. All
great things are in a constant state of improvement.
With the exception of a few things like brain surgery,
airline maintenance and nuclear power plants, it's safe to say that something
complete, but imperfect, has infinitely more value than something almost
perfect but never done.
As for my latest book, we could still be working on it. But
that wouldn't put it in your hands or in the hands of thousands of others. It
couldn't have accomplished its purpose if it never got printed.
Will we find corrections and improvements we'll want to
make? For sure. That's what second editions are for.
At some point you have to say, "It's great enough."
Action Point
What ideas, projects or creations are you procrastinating
about?
Could it be you're afraid it won't be perfect?
Almost everything can be improved upon after its debut. So
don't let your desire to get it perfect keep you from getting it going.
If you haven't started, start. If you haven't finished,
finish.
Get "
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— © Copyright 2008,
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E-mail Michael at: BeYourBest@SuccessNet.org
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