Be Prolific Rather Than Perfect

Hey Leaders,

Happy New Year!

I have been a sucker for waiting for the perfect timing in the past, and I want to share my experience so you know you are not alone and perhaps even help you recognise it in yourself.

When you are starting out with something new, whether that’s a project, new skill, new idea, whatever.

Things are not going to be perfect, you’re are probably going to suck.

It’s far more important to just start.

You probably thinking well I need the:

✅ Optimal temperature

✅ Perfect team

✅ Clever app

✅ Right conditions

✅ Best equipment

✅ Time Allowance

✅ The Budget

Regardless of the list above, just start. Get the initial draft out or the MVP (Minimum Viable Product) where you are giving your people a taste of what’s to come and this will allow you to get some feedback from the early adopters. This will give you some great insight and ensure you don’t invest a huge amount of time into something which may not flourish.

You can improve your draft later by iterating. If you can fail quickly, you’ll soon work out what doesn’t work and what you need to change before it causes too much pain.

If you are always using a reason to not start then you are probably never going to start.

Stop procrastinating, stop being fearful and stop worrying about failing, take action. Everyone starts by being rubbish at something, own it and get on with it.

You’ll learn a whole lot more by trying and seeing what works.

Perfect (or as close to) should be a destination you shoot for when you have more experience or you are getting better with a skill. Not an excuse to not try.

Repetition is the mother of skill. - Tony Robbin

Photo by Michel Catalisano on Unsplash

The reality is, sometimes you need to get 100 bad ones out the way before you start getting good at something.

Experienced YouTubers often say when you start out on YouTube you just need to upload 100 videos, the bad ones. It’s through these 100 videos you are trying, failing, learning and becoming better and better.

When I first started running presentations, I sucked badly. I was very scripted, lacked the confidence and it probably wasn’t very inspiring. Over time I have got better and improved dramatically through repetition, still room for improvement like all of us.

The first step in whatever you are working on doesn’t need to be a huge one, but you do need to start by taking it.

Stop shooting for perfection or what you don’t have. Focus on what you do have and being prolific.

All the best

David

Resources Of The Week

• Leadership Community - we’re launching a Leadership Community in the next month or so. This will be a private safe place for leaders and aspiring leaders to calibrate and improve as a group. It will include a knowledge base of resources, Slack Group, Monthly Q&As and Book Clubs. If you are interested in joining to develop your leadership and professional skills within a nurturing, positive and supportive environment, please register your interest here.

• Book - Daniel H. Pink - Drive - Daniel’s book deep dives into why intrinsic motivation beats extrinsic motivation over the long term. Also covering the surprising truths about what motivates us.

• Book - Talk like TED. Some of the secrets to the success of the TED Talks revealed. Ted talks have redefined the elements of a successful presentation and become the gold standard for public speaking around the world.

Quote of the Week

“It’s better to be prolific than perfect.” - Joe Polish

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