See Comma There

The thing about perfectionism

Conventionally, a comma is used in many ways, like, to separate independent clauses, between items, after an introduction, etc. Unconventionally the word ‘comma’ means a defect, the reason for imperfection, or the imperfection itself.

Everything has a comma, you can hardly find something without one. The question is, will it be the reason you don’t ship your work or will it be the reason you consider an update?

Because, if a comma is the reason you don’t ship your work, you are aiming for perfection and the thing about perfection is, you never hit it; matter of fact the time it takes for you to move from 1 to 7 could be less than the time it takes to move from 7 to 10. The closer to perfect you get, the harder it is to hit ‘perfect’.

Can you reach for better? Yes! And that’s better than perfect because if you reach for better, you can ship something and make it better the next time and the next time and the next...

Perfectionism is an excuse for inaction, a way of saying “no, I’m not ready to face the music or dance to it and I won’t be ready anytime soon”.

Dancing is more fun.

Like every other “ism”, perfectionism is a belief. A belief that things have to be perfect once and for all.

Is it good enough to go? Does it solve the problem? Can we get some feedback? Is it easy to use?

Those are better questions to ask…something to dance to.

Perfectionism kills the music.