Momentum Over Mastery

Photo by Nadir sYzYgY on Unsplash‍ ‍

I just finished writing a Sunday Starter and ended it with needs a better ending. I did it because I knew the ending wasn't great, I knew it needed something different, but I also knew that now wasn't the moment to fix it.

If I had sat there crossing out my work, rewriting, and moving things around I would have been here another hour with little to show for it. Instead, I chose to accept momentum over mastery and followed the next idea.

Writers know that passing over perfect is part of the process. The first draft is rarely good because it's not about good, it's about done; it's about getting words on paper as they flow from your thoughts because words - any words, even bad ones - are a step in the right direction.

You can't edit a blank page, and you can only improve what is already there.

If I had dwelled on that last paragraph I'd still be there instead of three-quarters of the way through the next post because while editing a Sunday Starter and writing a Sunday Starter seem like the same thing, they aren't. Editing and writing are two different tasks, and research shows that task switching can cost us up to 40% of our productivity.

Perfection isn’t just slow, it’s expensive. It steals the momentum that actually moves us forward.

Momentum creates more momentum. Progress creates more progress. And sometimes the most disciplined thing you can do is leave the imperfect thing behind and keep going.