Octavia Reese

I’m fortunate to belong to a sister-fren-hood of writers. We are each other’s go-to idea banks for all-hours sounding boards; ever-ready moralers for milestone celebrations and we are reality-checks for middle-of-the-night visits from The Ghost of Low Self-Esteem and her evil hench-spirit, The You’re Not Good Enough Imp.  I was just talking to my sister about her query letter for her new incredible LGBTQ novel. She has been avoiding it like the plague. The funny thing is that in addition to her day job as a technical writer and her soul’s work as a novelist, she also writes and edits other people’s resumes and cover letters. In summary, she’s a pro.

“I hate this so much, Tavi,” she had said in one conversation. I talked her down. Pumped her up. And finally I told her, “Just write the damn thing, Nan.”

Since this is a blog post, here’s a list for all you TLDR-ers:

1. Strive for excellence; not perfection.
2. Complete is better than perfect.
3. Perfection is stagnation. If you try for perfection, it will never get done.
4. Just do the damn thing.
5. Oh and you’re awesome — go forth and make your magic.

It’s the same work that she does for others – she just had to do it for herself. This went on for weeks. We laughed at ourselves and at each other and finally, she did just write the damn thing. And, guess what? It was a great query.

Ultimately, she got it out of her head. She got out of her own way, and she did it. I was so proud of her for finishing it. And then even more elated that it was quality. The query letter that had become some big looming beast standing between her and the next step of her own success had been defeated.

If you try to make it perfect, it will never get done.

Fast forward to my church small group. We aren’t your Grandma’s Bible Study. Ok, well maybe some of the groups are. We have a whole catalog of different small group themes. Some are gender-specific (i.e. single ladies), or role-specific (i.e. mom’s group/dad’s group), or theological studies (i.e. analysis of the book of Jonah), or in our case, interest-specific: Like a Boss, a small group for entrepreneurs.

This small group offers entrepreneurs networking, feedback and community among other Christ-following business owners. Over the course of the session, we each receive the opportunity to share our business mission, vision and goals and then to make it a full circle with our connection to or foundation in our individual spiritual journeys.

Last night I drove a shiny red Ferrari 488 GTB in circles around the West Loop because some of my group-mates own a company that puts exotic supercars in the hands of the average human. Their ministry is making regular people’s most magical vehicle dreams come true.  As I mentioned, we aren’t your Grandma’s Bible Study.

Last week it was my turn. I presented. I introduced my new media company. I asked for feedback. And wouldn’t you know, my friend Brian offered me the sagest advice:

My only comment or word of advice is to move quickly and get your site live and your brand out there. It’s really easy to keep working on all of the fine details and trying to make it perfect. I once read that completed is better than perfect. If you try to make it perfect it will never be done. Get it out there in the world and you can make changes later if necessary.

Chortle. Didn’t I just say that to someone else? I did.

But I needed to hear it for myself.

I needed to hear it from someone else.

Just like Nan can see so clearly how to help others succeed, but she was blocked for weeks when it came to her own work. I’ve been sitting on my brand for months and needed someone else to say back to me what I always say to everyone else. Perfection doesn’t exist. Do your most excellent work and finish it. Stop waiting. Stop avoiding. Just do the damn thing.

If you try to make it perfect, it will never get done.

I needed that reminder. You probably do, too.

Since this is a blog post, here’s a list for all you TLDR-ers:

1. Strive for excellence; not perfection.
2. Complete is better than perfect.
3. Perfection is stagnation. If you try for perfection, it will never get done.
4. Just do the damn thing.
5. Oh and you’re awesome — go forth and make your magic.

xoxo,

Octavia