If Only Someone Else Would Do the Debugging

There are a lot of adages regarding work to be done that go something like this: 20% of the people do 80% of the work. This is because the character trait of diligence is something sorely lacking in about 80% of the people. That last 20% of the work is sometimes the hardest.

Why is this?

I think it’s probably because we often rush to get started with something, we have a lot of energy and get most of the way through, but because we either didn’t spend enough time designing, we didn’t know all the requirements, or because we just aren’t good at what we’re doing, we end up in a place where we are tired of the project and we don’t want to do what it will take to get it all the way to the end.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re working on taxes, a software project, or a raised garden bed, we all get fatigued near the end of the project and just want to get to “good enough.”

And that’s what makes the difference between the “good enough” project and the “great” one.

Now, the great ones aren’t always the ones that make the most money or get the most fanfare, but they are the ones that last the longest and the ones most remembered.

So next time you’re thinking about just doing “good enough” work, or thinking about cutting those corners, ask yourself what it would take to get to the point where you could be proud of your work and find the inner strength to see it to completion.

Or maybe size your project to the right size where you know that you’ll have the strength to see it to the end. You’ll find that your accomplishments will fuel your next project as you grow and learn more, rather than having regrets about what could have been!