Progress Over Perfection

Many people attempt to attain perfection in the tasks they do but in the process take excessive time to complete that task. And interestingly greater value could have been created had the task been completed earlier, even in a less than perfect condition.

Some people have the tendency to over-do things by taking care of all ifs and buts right the first time when completing the task. It is wiser to complete the task in an iterative manner. The first cut doesn't need to be the most perfect in the whole world but rather good enough to ensure progress can be made. Subsequent iterations can be used to drive the progress towards perfection.

Nothing is static in the world and changes are needed even to things which are supposedly "perfect". Perfection is a mirage since one can never truly reach the state of perfection. However, in the quest to achieve perfection, people tend to forget the adverse impact it could bring as far as making progress is concerned.

One should go by the principle of progress over perfection. In fact progress is far more important. One should not delay starting an activity until one has the perfect plan, all facts are known, etc. Rather one should start an activity and gradually progress towards perfection.