Why done is better than perfect

Welcome to the first email of my newsletter and thank you so much for subscribing! Here are some honest truths:

1. I’ve wanted to start a newsletter for approximately 6 months, but I kept talking myself out of it (This is actually quite fast for me…)

2. I did all of the fluff 3 weeks ago like creating the account, sorting out the settings EXCEPT actually telling anybody about it or sending the first email (D’oh)

3. I only have a rough idea about what I want to do with this and it’s going to be a lot of making it up as I go along

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“Done is better than perfect”

I’m a very reflective chap and every year, I think long and hard about my new year’s resolutions. This year has been the first year (I’m 22) where I’ve actually been able to make progress on any of the goals I set myself.

In 2019, I declared to the beer in my hand that this was going to be ‘My Year of Action’. I pledged to get over self-imposed barriers and internal conflict once and for all and to actually start making progress on all of the things I apparently wanted to do.

I’ve italicized ‘apparently’ there because nobody would have any idea! I’ve spent years and years just living in my head and to the outside world, there’s been no action, no expression of what excites me or any indication about my ‘passions’.

Whilst 2019 wasn’t entirely a year of action, I did make very small progress and it was a small stepping stone for me.

Fast forward to this year (and no I definitely didn’t predict or plan for a global pandemic which would flip the world as we know it upside down) my 2020 mantra was discovered down a rabbit hole of internet surfing.

I came across the following phrase: “Done is better than perfect.”

Whilst not groundbreaking, having easy to remember concepts personally helps me a lot. I literally hear this phrase now whenever I am procrastinating or being a perfectionist.

Done is better than perfect.

Say it with me!

DONE IS BETTER THAN PERFECT.

So why has this become the first email of the newsletter I hear you ask? (He says writing this with ZERO subscribers). I’ll tell you, Joe… it’s relevant because I almost didn’t start this newsletter.

It’s common to have an idea and feel so inspired by it that you can’t stop going over and over how your life will change and how it’s the greatest discovery ever.

Sound familiar?

And then you don’t act on it because you get busy and then self-doubt creeps in and you slowly retreat back into yourself with a feeling of inadequacy.

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I’m not too concerned about how many people read these emails each week. My goal is to simply pass on the most interesting things I come across to like-minded people who may chat back. That’s what I would define a ‘success’.

At the very least, this has been quite therapeutic and I realised recently when guest-blogging for a SaaS company, that I SUCK at writing. Like I’m really bad...

So whilst this will be incredibly informal and me mainly just ‘writing how I speak’, I think some practise on my writing skills will help me in the long-run.

This leads to another trail of thought:

You will never regret any time spent on an idea, project or work if you can walk away with new skills and experience acquired.

Already from just writing this first email, I’m realising that if this went terribly wrong, e.g. my Mum didn’t even subscribe, then at the very least, I would have slightly improved my writing skills. It’s a win-win scenario.

All emails going forward will have a structure, specifically:

• 1 thought of the week

• 1 content tip about LinkedIn

• 1 article related to either productivity, self-improvement or psychology

And yes, this format will most likely change and I’ll probably come up with a name for these emails too. But not having a name and structure stopped me from writing this email 3 weeks ago. I’d be onto my 4th right now. See, don’t be a perfectionist!

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I desperately want this newsletter to be a close-knit community and that starts with you replying to this first email (pretty please). I’d love to know the following:

• What projects have you wanted to start recently?

Let’s start now and work things out later.

Talk soon!

Joe