Done Is Better Than... Perfect.
By
Staten Island, NY Posted: 2/26/2015 1:00:00 AM
Warning... This site isn't perfect!
In fact, in a lot of ways, this site is so far from perfect that it would make your head spin. Let's take a look.
Not only did I launch this site without using an industry standard blogging platform like Blogger or WordPress, I launched it with software that lacks at least 95% of the features people would expect from a "Real" blog, like letting visitors leave comments or share posts on social media. It lacked the ability to limit the number of blog posts on the home page, the ability to let people subscribe using RSS or email notification. For that matter, it even lacked such fundamentals as actual ideas.
I could go on... it still lacks a real logo, isn't particularly well laid out, and it has poor navigation. While I'm at it, the biggest thing it lacked was an audience. Nobody even knew we existed.
Did you know Idea Of The Day is a video blog? Trouble is... I haven't posted one video yet.
Let's face it. This site was about as far from Perfect as you could get, but somehow I decided it was Done, because as I've said, Done is better than Perfect.
Do you know what kills a lot of good ideas? Trying to perfect them.
If I wanted to make this site perfect, you would't be reading this right now. It would live like a lot of my ideas, inside my head. That's where most of my ideas live, as I struggle to make them Perfect and let people see them.
Does this sound familiar to you? If so, you're a Perfectionist. You want everything "Just Right". Anything less than Perfect will not do. You'd rather hold off and ship nothing than ship something that's not ready for prime time. Unfortunately, that means a lot of great ideas are never Perfect enough to see the light of day. They just remain inside your head.
If you're lucky, you actually start building some of your ideas, but somehow none of them Perfected enough to show the world.
Don't worry. There's a cure... Just do it.
Somehow, last September, while I was designing this half-baked site, I simply decided to launch it anyway. I built it, and I've posted one new thought that runs through my head each day. Some of them were real stinkers, but you know what? I'm especially proud of those stinkers, because instead of sitting in my head, I put them in writing and shared them as-is.
Starting today, I finally added one of the most important features people expect from a blog... the ability for people to leave comments and build a community. This was something I wanted from the first day, but it wasn't ready. I'm glad I didn't wait.
I'm not cured though, I still struggle with Perfectionism every single day. One of the reasons it took all these months to let visitors post comments on this site was because I hadn't "Perfected" a way for people to create accounts and sign-in. You know what? I still haven't perfected it, but I've held off way too long. So, here it is, warts and all and full of all sorts of bugs, but it's "Done."
Will I try to Perfect the comment system? Yes. Will it ever be Perfect? No. But I'm glad I finally did it.
Joe Crescenzi, Founder
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Posted: 2/26/2015 11:58:13 AM
From:
Simply Jim, Newbie - Web
Does this mean my comments don't have to be perfect? :)
Very happy to see you are letting people make comments. I look forward to throwing my two cents in once in a while.
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* Note: The ideas on "Idea of the Day" were posted without any formal research into existing inventions.
In some cases, patents may already exist for these ideas, in other cases, there may not be any existing patents and you are free to develop and explore the viability of developing and patenting the ideas.
The authors make no claim that any of the ideas are safe, practical, or suitable for any particular purpose. You are responsible for the results of trying, developing, patenting or using any of the ideas on this site.
For some people, our ideas are just an interesting read, but our goal is to encourage you to take action. If you see an idea that you like, do something with it... Take action.
- Joe