If It's Worth Doing, It's Worth Doing Poorly

Wait a minute! Isn't that a composition error? My whole life I've been told that if something is worth doing, it's worth doing well – or the best you can – or right – or correctly. So how can doing it poorly have any value?

And then it occurred to me the belief that it had to be done right the first time had held me back from doing lots of stuff. If you're a perfectionist, and I happen to be a recovering one, you know what I mean. Preparation takes a lot of energy, and commitment, and time. It's a valuable part of any process. And yet – maybe a little less prep, a little more tolerance for the results of early effort, and maybe – just maybe – a lot more could be accomplished. I remember a quote in a Harry Beckwith book - “Don't let perfect stand in the way of good.”

But I also remember a belief my Dad pounded into my head. “ Experience is the best teacher, but only fools can learn by no other.” Ouch! Talk about enabling procrastination – using preparation as a means of avoiding taking action.

And then I remember what A.K Best – a very good tier of flies for fishing – those little bits of feather, floss, foam, thread, fur, hair – that can be so complicated to create – said about tying a new fly pattern. He said he doesn't master a particular fly pattern until he has tied at least twelve dozen flies. I suspect his first attempt is pretty good – he's an acknowledged expert – but I suspect each following fly is a little bit better in some way – materials, process, proportions, color – until after 144 flies he's pretty satisfied with his results – and he can tie the fly with speed, precision and mastery of proportion.

A. K. Best's process is not a lot different from what we need to do to meet our own challenges. And yet many of us hold back – hang onto the preparation stage – feel intimidated with the possibility of not getting it right the first time. We don't want to appear foolish to ourselves or to others. And someone without the same intelligence, concern and processing ability that we have, goes out there, stumbles, gets up, learns from the experience, and gets it mostly right – and gets the credit, the recognition, the sale, the reward. And we know we could have done it better – if we had just acted a little sooner – if we had stopped preparing – overcome our self imposed expectation of perfect on the first try - and went for it.

To all my fellow perfectionists and professional preparers, I offer this call to action. Work hard to adopt the belief that something worth doing is worth doing poorly – at the beginning. Work hard to give yourself permission to fail, and not be perfect the first time – to learn from action, and to be better the next time. It's so much more liberating - and effective - to adopt that belief and behavior.

Written by Andy Cox, President
Cox Consulting Group, 4049 E Vista Drive, Phoenix, AZ 85032 Ph:& Fax: 602-795-4100; E Mail: acox@coxconsultgroup.com;Website:www.coxconsultgroup.com; Blog: http://multiplysuccess.blogspot.com

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