Let me tell you a story. I have a friend that wants to start a Youtube channel. He is a very talented musician. We were talking one day, and he had an idea for a music and dinner channel on Youtube. Where his wife cooks meals and he composes’ music to accompany the dish she made. I loved the idea and told him to go for it. I started telling him about my idea for a podcast and blog. He was excited for me and told me to get to work. I called him a week later and asked how everything was going with the Youtube channel. He reluctantly told me that he hadn’t started yet because he was waiting in some equipment. He needs some type of audio interface because he wanted the sound to be perfect. I told him to stop bullshitting and get the channel started in a joking manner. He assured me that he wasn’t going to fake on this, but his reputation was on the line and he didn’t want to be out here half stepping. I understood and told him that I would check on him next week. At this same time, I was starting to design my site and putting together topics for the blog and podcast. He would post videos of other musicians on his Instagram that were out of this world, but not more talented than him. I sent him a dm pointing out the fact that those musicians didn’t have a fancy audio interface and you are reposting their shit. You need to start posting yourself.

BE A FINISHER

Out of the blue he called me. Telling me that the audio interface was on back order and he had to get a different one. He assured me that he was going to start soon, and he even showed me the setup that he had so far. I was impressed with his current setup and tried to convince him to get started as quickly as possible before his ideas go into limbo. (SN: When you allow too much time to pass to take action you are less likely to do them.) By then I was building the website and posting content. It has been a few weeks and he hasn’t posted any content of himself yet. I have had an opportunity to post consistently and get a decent amount of viewership in a short amount of time.

When you allow too much time to pass to take action you are less likely to do them.

Am I better, more talented, or more popular than this guy? No! The main difference between him and I is I got started and I didn’t let my limitations stop me from moving forward. I am more than sure that his content will do better than mine because the concept is both unique and entertaining. The problem is he wants everything to be perfect at the beginning and I just wanted to be done. Done is better than perfect. When You are done you can learn from what you did. When you are done you have experience that you can apply to your next project. when you are done you can get real feedback and adjust. Finally, when you are done you can get results. Look, your first attempts at anything aren’t going to be the prettiest. Remember when you first tried something that you are a beast at now. Driving, swimming, reading. All those things when you first tried it you looked crazy. You didn’t get good until you got some practice. No matter what gear he got or the setup he had his first few productions were going to suck. That is the nature of the beast when you step out of your comfort zone.

You are going to make mistakes and it’s going to be sloppy. Get over that shit and start getting things done. The more time you waste trying to be perfect at the beginning the less time you spend on getting good and learning from your feedback. Steven Pressfield speaks about this in “The war of Art” Perfectionism is resistance for the creative and can halt all forward progress. We must defeat perfectionism by doing the work to the best of our abilities and improve as time goes on. Learn to work despite having limitations. You will grow if you stick with it. I can’t guarantee your success, but I can guarantee that you will never start if you allow perfectionism to poison your mind. I am not encouraging you to be satisfied with your worst work. Absolutely not, I am encouraging you to be satisfied with the best you can do at this time. Leveling up will come if, and only if, you do some work first.

Don’t let your need to be viewed as right, good, or perfect stop you from being a finisher. Your skill will grow with time. Dedicate yourself to being better than you were the last time and you will be fine. Life is a marathon and not a sprint. Life is fragile and short if you are going to spend your time on something make sure that it is something that is worth it. Being perfect is not worth your time but being finished is. Done is better than perfect. Perfectionism is a destroyer to hustlers and creatives. Keep your eyes open for the thoughts of perfectionism and stop them in their tracks. You are winning as long as you are improving over time.