Perfect is the enemy of done or done is better than perfect

I first encountered Inger Mewburn when doing my Masters, and quickly became a big fan. I liked her realism, her ability to talk straight, and they way she made higher degree learning seem accessible to 'ordinary' people.

Inger ran a MOOC in 2015 called "How to Survive your PhD" which I attended, and learned a lot. The material fed into my study, my writing, and my ambitions. One of the many gems that I picked up was "Perfect is the enemy of done" (Mewburn, 2012, p. 12).

However, over time, this has morphed, for me, into "Done is better than perfect". I know what Inger said, but I keep rehashing it, skewing the focus a little to remind us that completion is the key thing to aim for. Then I decided to own my take on Inger's words, and made the poster accompanying this post. 

I say this to my students all the time. Hopefully they get the message that perfectionism can be their enemy - and a submitted piece of work has SOOO much more value than one that is being tinkered with and tinkered with... until its freshness is lost and its meaning blurred. 

What sparked this post was listening to Tara Brabazon last winter, when - in the midst of a training video for the HDR staff at Flinders University, she said exactly the same thing:

"Done is better than perfect" (Brabazon, 2022, p. 9:34)

Now I know I am onto a winner: paraphrasing one guru and citing a second.

Sam

References:

Brabazon, T. (25 August 2022). Steps - Managing student perfectionism [video]. https://youtu.be/0ztpc8tBxW4

Mewburn, I. (2012). How To Tame Your PhD. Thesis Whisperer Books [www.amazon.com ebook]