Done or perfect?
📪 The Optimal Agent Newsletter #046
Take Action:
Decide when you’ll obsess about quality (and when you won’t).
Why It Matters:
By applying different quality standards to different roles, responsibilities, and projects in your life, you’ll make better time management decisions — helping you use your working hours to maximum effect.
How To Do It:
Grab your list. Pull up your “to-do” list — and if you don’t have one handy, draft a quick version with pencil and paper.
Done is better than perfect. What responsibilities, to-dos, and projects do you have where being done is better than worrying about perfection? Scan your list, and mark these items “Quick”.
Perfect is better than done. When is the opposite true? Where do you need to take your time, work slowly, and obsess over quality? Scan your list, and mark these items “Quality”.
Nothing is better than something. What do you need to quit entirely? What projects demand more but need to be done too quickly to allow for it? Scan your list, and mark these items “Quit”.
Explore More:
Listen: O.A. Podcast Episode #46: The Cult of Done — where Patrick and I discuss the power of the 2009 maker’s Manifesto (linked below) aimed at action, iteration, and getting things done quickly.
Read: The Cult of Done by Bre Pettis and Kio Stark. (You can breeze by the graphics.)
Watch: The YouTube version of O.A. Podcast Ep. 46. Patrick’s hair looks particularly suave this week… and even if you’re the audio-only type, please jump over to YouTube and subscribe to the channel. It helps the algorithmic overlords know they should show O.A. to more people, it’s no cost, and it’s one of the best things you can do to support the mission.
