Yesterday I came across an interesting article from INC.com on the importance of quantity over quality. Yes, you heard that right! The article discussed the significance and results of taking more action through doing versus focusing on the quality of work. This was a full circle moment for me that I knew we had to discuss!
Over the last year I’ve shared my own struggle with always wanting everything to be perfect or “just right.” Growing up I always heard "just do your best" and "give it your all." That's what we all hear though, right? As a result, I’ve become very meticulous and detail oriented. I use to take so much pride in that and while I still do to a degree, I’ve learned it has it’s fair share of downsides as well. I think like with a lot of things in life, there’s a fine line to follow.
On one hand, I still have this mindset of always wanting to do and be the best. I’m not a fan of half-assing things or cutting corners. It’s not a respectable trait I want to have and I think people always perceive it negatively. I also want to be proud of what I do and have impact. The other *extreme* side of this is wanting to do things in the absolute most perfect “right” way. Maybe just a little too right. From my personal experience, this approach doesn’t get you as far in the real world/outside of an academic setting. I've found that focusing too much on making something absolutely perfect leads to bad time management, being less productive overall and often kills action. Have you ever been put off from doing something because you didn't know how or felt you weren't capable? I sure the hell have. I've also been guilty of not even trying or quitting if I couldn't do something exactly how I wanted. It's a cliche but there's a reason they say "If you wait until you're ready, you'll be waiting forever."
In the same INC.com article, the author Jessica Stillman referenced a study that compared two different groups in a college photography class. One group was given an assignment to take one photograph for the entire semester. Their grade was based off of this one photo and on the quality of their work. The other group was assigned to take a hundred total photos during the semester. The quality of each one didn't matter and they would only be graded on the quantity completed, not the quality. They ended up discovering that not only did the latter group do more, they also ended up having better quality work overall too than the first group did. This happened because they learned and improved overtime from all of the doing. I read more on this study in this article. So interesting!
There's also another really neat concept that ties into this that Stillman shared in the article known as the 70/20/10 rule. The rule essentially follows the principle that when it comes to creative projects or content, 70% of what you do will be mediocre, 20% will be terrible and 10% will be remarkable. In order to achieve the 10% of excellence, you have to do the other 90%. It goes hand-in-hand with the classroom example and makes a ton of sense. If you constantly question whether what you're doing is good enough, it's an encouraging rule to remember. If you keep following the course and the 70/20/10 rule, it seems inevitable that you'll eventually hit a breakthrough at some point. The moral I've come up with is don't half ass but keep doing more and more sh*t! An inspiring article that's definitely worth a read-- I'll link it here. Pretty good food for thought, huh?
