I read recently that cooking shows & YouTube channels are at an all-time popularity. I also read that people who watch those shows and videos are LESS likely to try to cook new things. This is driven by fear of an inferior result compared to the show.
Here is the rub - rarely do things go wrong on TV. They cut out the mistakes. The redo results over and over again until they are perfect. If no matter what they try, the recipe is a mess and does not make for good TV, it doesn't air.
Perfection is often a worthwhile goal, UNLESS it impedes us from trying in the first place. Your first cake will be a mess. Or podcast, or novel, or blog post, or ski run. Nobody gets it perfect on the first try. That does not mean you should not try new things.
Professionally, perfection can hold us back. Graduate schools are littered with students who never finish their dissertations for fear of submitting something less-than-perfect. Managers can drive their team crazy trying to achieve some level of perfection. Or they step in and do it themselves because "if you want it done right, you have to do it yourself." Sometimes good enough is good enough - let them learn, and move on.
Let's keep moving forward.
Reassuring post. Thanks for the thoughtful post Ed. Happy new year to all! Here is to a successful and stress (reduced) 2021. Open to connect on LinkedIn if I can be of service to our awesome team.