9 ms·

Progress Over Perfection

84 points by phughes1980 6y ago

SanderNL 6y ago
I get it. The author is in a hurry. But it shows. The article contains perhaps two meaningful units of useful knowledge which the author somehow stretches into multiple pages. No disrespect intended, but to save your own time, you managed to waste mine. Not a good look IMHO. tldr: - Outsource what you can - Move fast, don't get hung up on details Relevant quote: "I didn't have time to write you a short letter, so I wrote you a long one."
- simplecto 6y ago
  This is why I come right to the comments. Thank you.
- slx26 6y ago
  Yeah. For perfectionists and procrastinators, it's good to focus more on small chunks of work in order to make more measurable progress... but in general, I feel that what the world needs is people moving less (movement is not always progress) and being more reflective. Working towards resilience and accessibility, not just output.
  - fleischhauf 6y ago
    I feel the same way every time i read all those productivity tips like time boxing. No one seems to like to reflect on things
jf22 6y ago
I only skimmed after the part about him having three side hustles and a podcast. Focusing on one thing instead of four is the key to success. Spreading yourself too thin is going to lead to frustration and burnout.
- dgb23 6y ago
  I'm unable to do this apparently. Or not in a strict sense at least. Last year I had a bit of a crisis. I believed that I needed to become more focused on one particular area to facilitate long term professional success. I think I got this advice directly or indirectly from different people at different times. But I couldn't. I looked at specific areas to specialize in isolation. All of them are interesting, but I could feel almost physical pain from just thinking to narrow down my focus on any of those. Then I gave up, and what a relief that was. I realized that I'm not wired this way. I see the connections between the things. That's what draws my attention and endlessly motivates me. Tackle a new problem, refine my skill a bit here, bolster my knowledge a bit over there. Quoting Heinlein: Specialization is for insects. This resonates with me. Now I'm a programmer (full-stack web), teacher, consultant. Recently also started learning technical writing and working towards building an animal sanctuary. I see more and more connections between those things, which is satisfying and rewarding, often in unpredictable ways.
  - mrmonkeyman 6y ago
    Your mind is chaotic and it shows in your writing. I would be hesitant to recommend that type of thinking, but you seem happy, which is honestly all that matters.
  - mjhirn 6y ago
    I was thinking along those lines in the first half of my twenties. Now in the second half I feel lucky that I found a topic that I am going deep on and I am using that to go wide in some other connected areas. In hindsight there was some time where I had to actively force myself to stick with one topic longer than usual to go deep. Once that hurdle is taken I have less of a problem now integrating adjacent topics. I also agree with the advice that focusing on one topic improves professional success. Long-term is TBD though.
    - dgb23 6y ago
      My strategy is to chunk the topics I'm interested in. At least on a per day basis but usually longer, reading several books on a topic, experimenting and taking notes.
kkoncevicius 6y ago
What's the deal with using one-sentence paragraphs? Recently I am seeing this trend more and more, it always confuses me a bit.
- leg100 6y ago
  It's a desperate attempt at profundity. Particularly when a very short sentence follows in the next paragraph to declare some great insight. Like this.
  - mrits 6y ago
    The real great thinkers demonstrated profundity by separating each word with a clap emoticon though.
  - bachmeier 6y ago
    That's not my reading of the article. There are at least two other reasons you write short paragraphs. The first is the most likely explanation for this post: Because you don't want to spend time writing a good paragraph that mixes multiple ideas together. As a substitute for tldr, either before or after a long block of text. I frequently use this approach. I don't want to spend a lot of time writing an internet comment, time being valuable and all, but I do want the reader to know the point I'm trying to get across even if the writing isn't 100% professional. I picked it up on Reddit long ago, as a reaction to someone always giving a lengthy comment the exact opposite interpretation to what was intended.
    - kkoncevicius 6y ago
      My understanding is that one paragraph should represent one idea. The OP article certainly doesn't follow this. It seems like it made a new paragraph out of what should have been a sentence, and it made a new section out of what should have been a paragraph.
- augustk 6y ago
  Could it be due to a focus on progress over perfection, and that hitting the enter key feels like progress?
tyingq 6y ago
"Progress not perfection" is a popular term in AA.
tekstar 6y ago
Stopped reading when they referred to their own ambitions as a "big ask"
mcbuilder 6y ago
If only my wife felt this way about my approach to household chores. My point is that in many areas of life, progress alone isn't simply good enough. Even if you believe in the 80-20 rule, progress alone won't get you to that 20%. I tried to find a deeper insight in the article, but I have a feeling the author gave up with the progress he had made when he decided to publish.
- gapo 6y ago
  Made me laugh out properly.
- adamisom 6y ago
  Funny you mention chores because that's exactly what I've always thought of as the prime example of where 80/20 thinking brings benefits. I think a big reason to focus on higher-ROI (80/20) is to reduce friction; I'd rather have a quite-clean living space the majority of the time than a perfectly-clean living space on rare occasion (I think 80/20 thinking leads to a higher average level of cleanliness). You did say 'if only my wife felt this way' so I assume you buy into 80/20 for chores and she doesn't.

84 points by phughes1980 6y ago

I get it. The author is in a hurry. But it shows. The article contains perhaps two meaningful units of useful knowledge which the author somehow stretches into multiple pages. No disrespect intended, but to save your own time, you managed to waste mine. Not a good look IMHO. tldr: - Outsource what you can - Move fast, don't get hung up on details Relevant quote: "I didn't have time to write you a short letter, so I wrote you a long one."

simplecto 6y ago
This is why I come right to the comments. Thank you.
slx26 6y ago
Yeah. For perfectionists and procrastinators, it's good to focus more on small chunks of work in order to make more measurable progress... but in general, I feel that what the world needs is people moving less (movement is not always progress) and being more reflective. Working towards resilience and accessibility, not just output.
- fleischhauf 6y ago
  I feel the same way every time i read all those productivity tips like time boxing. No one seems to like to reflect on things

jf22 6y ago

I only skimmed after the part about him having three side hustles and a podcast. Focusing on one thing instead of four is the key to success. Spreading yourself too thin is going to lead to frustration and burnout.

dgb23 6y ago
I'm unable to do this apparently. Or not in a strict sense at least. Last year I had a bit of a crisis. I believed that I needed to become more focused on one particular area to facilitate long term professional success. I think I got this advice directly or indirectly from different people at different times. But I couldn't. I looked at specific areas to specialize in isolation. All of them are interesting, but I could feel almost physical pain from just thinking to narrow down my focus on any of those. Then I gave up, and what a relief that was. I realized that I'm not wired this way. I see the connections between the things. That's what draws my attention and endlessly motivates me. Tackle a new problem, refine my skill a bit here, bolster my knowledge a bit over there. Quoting Heinlein: Specialization is for insects. This resonates with me. Now I'm a programmer (full-stack web), teacher, consultant. Recently also started learning technical writing and working towards building an animal sanctuary. I see more and more connections between those things, which is satisfying and rewarding, often in unpredictable ways.
- mrmonkeyman 6y ago
  Your mind is chaotic and it shows in your writing. I would be hesitant to recommend that type of thinking, but you seem happy, which is honestly all that matters.
- mjhirn 6y ago
  I was thinking along those lines in the first half of my twenties. Now in the second half I feel lucky that I found a topic that I am going deep on and I am using that to go wide in some other connected areas. In hindsight there was some time where I had to actively force myself to stick with one topic longer than usual to go deep. Once that hurdle is taken I have less of a problem now integrating adjacent topics. I also agree with the advice that focusing on one topic improves professional success. Long-term is TBD though.
  - dgb23 6y ago
    My strategy is to chunk the topics I'm interested in. At least on a per day basis but usually longer, reading several books on a topic, experimenting and taking notes.

kkoncevicius 6y ago

What's the deal with using one-sentence paragraphs? Recently I am seeing this trend more and more, it always confuses me a bit.

leg100 6y ago
It's a desperate attempt at profundity. Particularly when a very short sentence follows in the next paragraph to declare some great insight. Like this.
- mrits 6y ago
  The real great thinkers demonstrated profundity by separating each word with a clap emoticon though.
- bachmeier 6y ago
  That's not my reading of the article. There are at least two other reasons you write short paragraphs. The first is the most likely explanation for this post: Because you don't want to spend time writing a good paragraph that mixes multiple ideas together. As a substitute for tldr, either before or after a long block of text. I frequently use this approach. I don't want to spend a lot of time writing an internet comment, time being valuable and all, but I do want the reader to know the point I'm trying to get across even if the writing isn't 100% professional. I picked it up on Reddit long ago, as a reaction to someone always giving a lengthy comment the exact opposite interpretation to what was intended.
  - kkoncevicius 6y ago
    My understanding is that one paragraph should represent one idea. The OP article certainly doesn't follow this. It seems like it made a new paragraph out of what should have been a sentence, and it made a new section out of what should have been a paragraph.
augustk 6y ago
Could it be due to a focus on progress over perfection, and that hitting the enter key feels like progress?

tyingq 6y ago

"Progress not perfection" is a popular term in AA.

tekstar 6y ago

Stopped reading when they referred to their own ambitions as a "big ask"

mcbuilder 6y ago

If only my wife felt this way about my approach to household chores. My point is that in many areas of life, progress alone isn't simply good enough. Even if you believe in the 80-20 rule, progress alone won't get you to that 20%. I tried to find a deeper insight in the article, but I have a feeling the author gave up with the progress he had made when he decided to publish.

gapo 6y ago
Made me laugh out properly.
adamisom 6y ago
Funny you mention chores because that's exactly what I've always thought of as the prime example of where 80/20 thinking brings benefits. I think a big reason to focus on higher-ROI (80/20) is to reduce friction; I'd rather have a quite-clean living space the majority of the time than a perfectly-clean living space on rare occasion (I think 80/20 thinking leads to a higher average level of cleanliness). You did say 'if only my wife felt this way' so I assume you buy into 80/20 for chores and she doesn't.