I joined a podcast recently, and referenced this post I once wrote: don’t make “Bad” the enemy of “Good.” The editors at Fast Company picked it up a couple of weeks after I first published it.
The gist of the post:
- Many times, “Good” things start out “Bad.”
- Thinking about it, getting feedback, looking for a next step, or deciding that you’re better off doing something else—all “Good” results from a “Bad” project.
- “Bad” is often how projects start. “Good” is how projects appear when they are closer to complete, if we stay present when we make it.
One perfect application of this is in gradual improvements; identifying areas where we’re currently struggling and failing, and gradually turning Fs to Ds, Then, Ds into Cs, Cs into Bs, and so on.
This slowly gradually builds our confidence, rather than trying to take on the grandiose goal of turning an F into an A immediately. Medium CEO Tony Stubblebine calls this the Greg Pass strategy, named for a Twitter CTO who fixed the fail whale.