February 19, 2018: Perfection
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 8.50: "That cucumber is bitter, so toss it out! There are thorns on the path, then keep away! Enough said. Why ponder the existence of nuisance? Such thinking would make you a laughing stock to the true student of Nature, just as a carpenter or cobbler would laugh if you pointed out the sawdust and chips on the floors of their shops. Yet while those shopkeepers have dustbins for disposal, Nature has no need of them."
"Perfect is the enemy of good" is another famous saying in today's world. We want things to go perfectly, so many times we wait to get things started or complete them until we have the best conditions to do them. But nothing is perfect, no manuscript you are writing, no company you are about to start, no house you are looking for to buy.
Instead of waiting for the perfect conditions, just get started with what you want to do , whether its a new business opportunity you are thinking about, or writing a book, or finishing a project for work! All of these can be done by you better and faster, without being perfect!
I've found in my life, I tend to get more things done when I just get started on them and don't wait to make them perfect. Eventually others review whatever I did, project wise or writing wise, and then I improve on them. Even if I waited until something was perfect, I'm sure someone will find a way to improve it, so is anything truly perfect when you create it?
I've read in my entrepreneurship books that for a company to start it just needs to start. Mark Zuckerberg, Founder of Facebook, also has stated multiple times that if he waited to start Facebook to be what it is today, it would never have gotten off its feet. Him and other founders have stated that the company they started with is just and idea that has been improved on year by year. So I say don't wait to long to start whatever project/business you want to, just start it!