It would be lovely to have all the time, resources and energy we need to perfectly complete our work, but that’s rarely how the world functions. The real world requires compromise. To be any kind of achiever, at some point you have to release your work to the scrutiny of others.
Culture commentator Seth Godin puts it this way: “The only purpose of starting is to finish, and while the projects we do are never really finished, they must ship. Shipping means hitting the publish button on your blogs, showing a presentation to the sales team, answering the phone, selling the muffins, sending out your references. Shipping is the collision between your work and the outside world.”
Most achievement requires some degree of compromise. In the work world, this is usually the only way anything gets done. As our society moves faster and faster, we have to learn to work and release our work more quickly. Who doesn’t cringe at letting go of something before she’s ready? I’ve struggled with it for years, but that’s the beauty of needing to pay the bills. If I didn’t have bills, I’d never release. I’d never ship.
Some of us can’t ship, or we do, but then we undermine our work. Perfectionism, insecurity, fear — we’re lost in our heads, and our work suffers. Achievers know that success requires a realistic assessment of what’s truly possible in a given amount of time. Even if they have perfectionist tendencies, they compromise on less important issues so they can focus on details that truly matter. They know that in every victory there has been an adaptation along the way — something hasn’t been quite right, and the winner adjusted for that. That’s compromise, and it’s a beautiful trait.
A woman I know is profoundly insecure about her appearance. Rather than miss an event, she shows up late and apologizes for how she looks, every single time. Her hair isn’t right, she didn’t sleep well, the better skirt was at the cleaners. Insecurity, fear of aging, perfectionism, whatever her issues are, she’s basically asking to be compared to women who are tired, women who ran out of time. She wants a head start because she sees appearance as a competition. That’s an exhausting way to live.