Progress, Not Perfection

Each quarter end, I have a calendar event to remind me to recap the quarter.

Nothing too crazy. Just a quick check-in to take inventory.

• How did the last quarter go?
• How does my current trajectory align with where I want to go?
• What are my top priorities for next quarter?

If I’m really in need of motivation (often the case)… I do the “one year ago” trick.

I open the calendar to one year ago today and see what I was working on that week. I then cringe at how I thought whatever I was doing then, felt SO important at the time.

Then I pause to compare what I’m working on now. Ahh this is actually a great exercise — look how far we’ve come!

Day-to-day and week-to-week, I mainly just see the GAP of where I am now vs where I want to be. But this quick exercise helps me to instead see the GAIN of where I’ve come.

The gap is helpful for motivation and direction, but the gain is mandatory for momentum.

LinkedIn founder, Reid Hoffman, famously said — “If you’re not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late.“

*Insert caveat about always doing great work and putting in the effort*

Of course. But you need to draw the line somewhere and just get going.

Here are three other examples of this in action.

#1 Exercise

For years I would bail on going to the gym because it was too late or I was too tired. I thought I needed full energy to really go hard at the gym and get stronger.

Until I realized how foolish this was — and I changed my framework.

In reality, consistency is MUCH more important than any individual workout effort. I finally realized that I actually don’t always have to get stronger every time at the gym. Sometimes it’s okay to just NOT get weaker.

Just showing up is the real win.

Monday’s and Tuesday’s are always the hardest for me to exercise. I just don’t want to do it… But I do. Because I now understand what I really am optimizing for is consistency. And the way to get there is to be okay on some days not getting weaker vs having to get stronger.

#2 Football (Americano)

In football, the offense doesn’t score a touchdown every play. Some plays might only gain a few yards. And some plays even zero yards.

But in order to get into the endzone, it’s important to NOT go the opposite direction and take a sack. Sometimes you just need to hold the line and get back to the next play.

#3 Progress, Not Perfection

I have a monthly target of publishing two blog posts a month.

Having a target helps me actually hit publish. Otherwise I would be trapped in “someday maybe” territory.

To be honest, everything about this blog makes me a little uneasy. My instinct is to overanalyze, overedit, and wait for the perfect posts (aka never).

So I have a target that helps me stay accountable.

And with each post, I learn and improve slightly from the previous. I focus on the progress, not the perfection. Otherwise, there would be no progress at all.

If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading. I’d love to hear what YOU are making progress on. Comment below. 👇