DONE IS BETTER THAN PERFECT

Victoria looked at the blank screen of her computer with the partially filled presentation staring back at her. Three months of work, nights consumed by coffee, and now she was staring at the digital document from her potential future job and not knowing what to do. What was meant to be a groundbreaking improvement of her department’s efficiency now was her own private hell.

The Beginning

It started with such clarity. This is what she wanted – shiny, modern, well-organized, and efficient. Her peers had applauded the thought that she had brought when proposing the idea and her superior had encouraged her to fully execute the plan. This is especially after the initial few weeks in the twentieth which seem to have been done in a blur of activity and energy.

The Spiral

Then came the questions. What if the new system was not as easy to use as she had assumed that it was? She wondered if she was overlooking crucial details? She added one feature, then three were created, each new form generating three more alternatives and following decision making created thousands of opportunities. She finished with confidence and her head filled with “what if, maybe we should” thoughts.

She ended up polishing the same part over and over again; adjusting pixels which no one, other than her, would ever know, rewording documents which were already perfectly understandable. The project did not continue or stop dead on its tracks but rather was an endless cycle of almost completed.

The Breaking Point

One Tuesday morning, while rehashing the same meeting notes for the third time, Victoria realized something: She had become her own worst enemy because her need to achieve the very best appeared to be inimical to progress. This was not about shielding the project from every possibility, this was about killing it slowly and painfully for her.

The Breakthrough

Victoria took three decisive steps:

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1. She sorted her endless feature list into three categories:

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• Must-have (Core-functionality)
• Nice-to-have (Future updates)
• Let-it-go (Beautiful but only used occasionally)

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2. She set non-negotiable deadlines:

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• Two weeks to complete a number of features
• One week for testing
• No more "just one more thing"

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3. She shared her imperfect work:

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• Began doing weekly demonstrations with peers
• Invited early feedback
• Accepted criticism as a mechanism for developing.

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The Resolution

The project was initiated after three weeks. Was it perfect? No. Was it something that had all the features she wanted it to have? No. But it succeeded, and it made a difference, and first of all -- it was not a dream -- it was real.

The team started using her system, and something unexpected happened: actually employing them in daily life has unveiled some enhancements she never would have thought of while caught in her perpetual paralysis of analysis. The project was more or less improvised, which means that it relied on actual requirements rather than hypothetical idealization.

The Lesson

Doing something is always better than nothing. It is not the intention of hope to make a prison of endless possibility which we are locked inside forever, hope is the bridge we use to reach out with even one shaky step at a time.

Victoria still keeps a Post-it note on her monitor that reads: "Progress over perfection." And it helps her remember that being ‘stuck’ is not a reflection of talent, but rather, it is an option: option to move, option to opt for reality instead of idea, an option to act instead of thinking, strategizing, planning and pondering day in and day out.