Lessons I've Learned: No. 2

Fail Faster

This is an excellent concept that Extra Credits explains perfectly in this video.  The idea is simple and you can apply it to your whole life: No one is perfect. No panting, movie, or novel, is ever perfect. There is no perfect plan, no fool proof method to get ahead, and no path to happiness that's bump free. You'll probably fail multiple times on your journey to success. So it doesn't make any more sense to wait until it's perfect to show people your work of art than it does to wait until it's perfect to try out a new idea. It never will be and it doesn't have to be.

To me, this means two things. First, perfection should not be the bar we set because perfect doesn't exist.  My example, of course, is writing.  It's much better to forget the idea of "perfection" and shoot for the obtainable goal of writing an effective story: a story that leaves the reader feeling a certain way, captures into words exactly how you think the story should be, etc.  There are plenty of books that are flawed in some manner but are great because of the story they tell or the way they make us feel. It's better to write a book that is flawed but enticing to your audience than to write a book that's "perfect" but boring. So don't think of constructive criticism as a bad thing. Accept that your work is not perfect and that any good criticism someone provides you helps you to make your story more effective.

And second, this means that the best and most efficient way to create a great book (or to change careers or whatever) is to attack it head on. Being afraid to make mistakes will leave you immobilized in fear of a misstep. Being bogged down in fear will stifle your creativity and will require much longer to get to where you want to be.  If you allow your mind to run free, allow yourself to make mistakes and learn from those mistakes, your end result will be better and will come faster.

Let's go back to the writing example: imagine one day you have your story completely done. All i's dotted, all t's crossed. So you decide it's FINALLY good enough for someone else to read. You give it to your writing partner, confident she'll be blown away by it. But when she brings it back to you, she points out several shortcomings you didn't even realize were there. Ouch. You will have so much emotionally invested in your story at that point any criticism will most likely seem more like an attack than help.  At that point, it becomes far more work to fix the mistakes, and thus you are far less likely to want to even try.  This is exactly the same thing that will happen with any other aspect of your life if you require perfection before taking action.

So take chances and try new things. If you're a writer, get your work out there for others to see. Don't be afraid to fail. If you are working on a story, the best thing you can do is get your work into the hands of someone that you trust that can give you good, constructive feedback.  If you get feedback often you can make small adjustments during your process rather than trying to do an overhaul at the end.

And that's the point of all of this.  We need to fail to get better. In order to make your story better, you need constructive criticism. So why not get it early and often, rather than be heartbroken when someone critiques what you thought was perfect? The end goal is to create the best story (or plan, or career) that you can, right? Well don't let your ego get in the way. Fail faster.