Life Is A Beta. Do It Now. Perfect Later.

Are you a perfectionist? Do you think … just a little more polishing and you’ll be ready to launch that two-year-old project you’ve revised, reworked and re-engineered to death?

Old School

Are you so old school that you were taught “if it is worth doing, it’s worth doing perfectly?” Well, let me share a truth with you. They were wrong. Your teachers, bosses, parents … all the people who pushed for perfection at the price of completion were off-base and out of step with this time.

I used to be a perfectionist. I made sure there were no critical omissions in my completed documents. The problem is that I didn’t publish as many articles as I might have if perfect wasn’t part of the goal. Actually, perfect was not my personal goal. It was the required operating procedure standing in the way of project completion.

Perfectionism was a girdle in the old-school world. It was tight, restrictive and painful. There was nothing fun about wearing the girdles I wore as a young woman. Why didn’t I question the need to adhere to such a rigid rule then?

I am not endorsing sloppy work. I don’t advocate half-ass effort. I am recommending that you allow yourself the creative freedom of knowing that good enough is good enough.

Life is your personal laboratory. It is yours to explore, experiment, and decide what’s most important to you. It is your place to dream, test ideas, and implement plans. To accomplish more in your life, think of life as a beta.

Do the best you can as quickly as possible, then launch the program, project, or venture. Revise and perfect it later. Think beta –the first iteration. The Microsoft method. Decide how to monetize the initial effort and price future updates. Get it done.

Launch Beta 1. Get Feedback. Revise. Improve. Price. Launch Beta 2 to a market of early adopters waiting expectantly, and to the later-adopters who have been waiting for Beta 2. What a great operating model. Rinse. Repeat. Replay.

Go launch your new product.

Peace and prosperity,

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© 2010 Judith Stephens. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.