“Done” Is Better Than Perfect: The Power Of Publishing In High-Volume
Quit overthinking and start publishing. Overcome perfectionism by taking action.
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What do you think about when you write an article?
What is your end goal?
Most writers think about the results and how readers would react. They think about views, comments, claps, and shares.
Because of this thinking, some feel insecure about their writing. They overthink the idea and topic. Will people be interested in what I have to say?
This overthinking leads to the fear of publishing. Writers keep themselves from putting out more work. They only do so after they gain confidence that their ideas have value or meaning.
Even if their articles have a good message to the readers, they overthink and stop themselves from publishing.
Work to publish
Jack Conte, the CEO of Patreon, talks about “working to publish” in one of his YouTube videos.
He shows examples of people (his heroes) who finish so many things; it’s unbelievable.
Freddie Wong: 231 videos. Irving Berlin: 1500 songs. Ella Fitzgerald: 84 albums. Zack Weinersmith: 3000 comics. Rob Has a Podcast: 1300 podcasts. J.K. Rowling: seven novels in ten years. Peter Hollens: 27 music videos, 35 songs, and one album in a single year (2014). Hank Green: 6868 videos.
How do they finish so many things?
“They don’t. But they publish them anyway.”
Like these fantastic creators, your goal should be to work to publish instead of perfecting them. “Working to publish,” Conte says, “is about getting shit done. Your whole mentality shifts. You focus on the stuff that matters and ignore the stuff that doesn’t.”
Perfectionism leads to procrastination.
If you always try to make your work perfect, it will lead to suffering. You won’t be satisfied no matter how much you try.
Even if you think it’s worth publishing, you cannot guarantee it will produce a good outcome. This causes more suffering.
