“Done is better than perfect”- Sheryl Sandberg
There are so many things that need to get done during a school year. Whether you’re a veteran or starting out, each day brings a new task. Some are easy, and of course, some are hard. What’s more, some will seem pertinent to your daily functioning as an educator.
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Others? Others will seem like gopher work.
If you’re lucky, and my hope is that you are, you’ll get the chance to do something cool.
A project that will make sense for what you want to do as an educator. Running a new program in the school. Being involved on a team trying to change the curriculum for the better. Being involved with parents and colleagues to enrich or improve your school in some way.
It could be something personal too- making a change for your life to be better.
Now that you’re lucky to do this, you have to realize one thing…
Done is better than perfect.
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By this point, we have all heard of the ideas around growth mindset put out by Carol Dweck and her colleagues. We know that people who perceive themselves as having a growth mindset are open to failure, know that they learn from it, and know that they are a work in progress.
On the other hand, fixed mindsets lead to less growth and more rigid thinking about skills as being less amenable to change. Of course, we should work to support a growth mindset in our students too.
Done is better than perfect allows you to recognize that your first iteration of a project or a change will not be perfect. There will be feedback, there will be challenges, there will be resistance, there will be poor planning; there will be any number of reasons that your first shot at the task will need to be changed.
At that moment, take a breath, recognize that improvement is only possible when you accept that done is better than perfect.
Take the feedback, improve the process, make the change, and move on!
