Done is far better than perfect, especially when there’s a bus
A few weeks ago I attended a Schulich School of Business alum event with a couple girlfriends who went to York. The last session of the day had panelists from Nielson, LinkedIn and Facebook.
Some words from the guy from Facebook stuck with me, probably because I have been thinking a lot about the ridiculous quest for perfection lately.
He said that at Facebook, they live by “done is better than perfect” – obviously stemming from maintaining innovation in a competitive market.
Of course there’s professionally but it got me thinking about it personally.
A few years ago I worked at a college and for some reason – that I can’t remember – it was a really busy time. Long story short, I ended up getting a parking ticket because I hadn’t realized I put my parking receipt face down on my dashboard.
It was my mistake, but still I contacted the head of security and parking to see if he could help. He responded and very quickly my ticket was reversed, which I was really grateful for because I didn’t think I had a chance.
Then I got caught up in my busyness again to the point that I almost forgot to say thanks. He wasn’t around work, so I couldn’t thank him in person. Instead I sent him an email. It was the best I could do. Plus I could thank him in person next time I saw him.
What I didn’t know was that my fellow coworker was actually on a leave from work and the emails he had been responding to were from his hospital bed.
A few days went by and Monday morning a coworker came by to tell us that the head of security and parking had died of a heart attack over the weekend.
You know when people in the workplace say in passing “so if I get hit by a bus tomorrow…” Well it was like that except he had a heart attack and I felt like I had been hit by a bus.
Fast forward to tonight… I went up to a friend to wish him a happy birthday. With new friends, there are many surprises like not realizing our birthdays were two days apart. Friendship is that imperfect thing where you feel like you randomly meet a person and for whatever reason you hit it off.
This friend is in his 50s and we became acquainted a short time back when he came up and introduced himself to me. He has a face that you like instantly. The fact he always seems to be smiling doesn’t hurt either.
We hit it off in our very first conversation because he has a place out in the country with horses where he goes every weekend to go fox hunting (thankfully they don’t actually kill foxes though, I asked).
After I told him I was from a farm his response was “but you don’t look like a farm girl.” I don’t really know what he meant because I’ve only ever looked like me. Farm people have as consistent a look as city people, which is to say there’s no consistency.
So I laughed and we’ve been friendly since. Whenever we spot one another we say hi and I often get a hug. (Good news: Toronto folk are just as huggy as westerners).
So tonight I was greeted and hugged by the same friendly smiling face who was pleased to hear our birthdays were two days apart. I can’t even express how sweet this man is, when he asks how things are, you really feel like he cares to know.
So I asked him if he had a good year, to which he said no, especially not the last couple weeks.
His partner of 20 years died this week after a struggle with cancer. I had no idea. Again, hit by a bus.
What do you say to someone who lost the love of his or her life, like literally this week?
There are no perfect words for a moment like that. Just friendship. Fortunately we’d been there and done that.
Done is in fact far better than perfect.
I got to your website from your Tweet exchanges with Andrew Potter (Yes, he is my son). I am attracted to your quote, "Done is better than perfect".
One that I have been using lately is, "Perfect is the enemy of the good" [Voltaire, I believe].
All this to say that your basic thesis, "Don't put off to tomorrow what you can do today", is sound counsel.
Thanks for tweeting.
Best Regards
Carryl Potter
Ah, Mr. Potter. :) Thanks for the comment and for sharing the quote.
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