Perfectionism has a seemingly symbiotic relationship to the ideation process. But good ideas may never come to fruition when perfectionism is present.

I heard a great story the other day from a colleague, Dennis Ross. Dennis tells a story about Michael Jackson recording Thriller. Apparently the producers insisted on doing 99 takes to get the track just right. They were obsessed with it being perfect. When they were in the studio deciding which of the recordings was the best version to push to market, they found out something incredible: the 2nd take was the best of the 99. Takes 3 – 99 were just not as good. It took Michael one round to refine and then he was in his rhythm. Every other take was no more than the act of making everyone in the room feel comfortable they had done their due.

Seth Godin shares a similar story in his book Linchpin about Saturday Night Live, "There's no doubt that another hour, day, or week [would add polish]. [But] Saturday Night Live goes on each week, ready or not. The show is live, and it's on Saturday. No screwing around about shipping (or finishing). There are no do-overs, no stalls, no delays. Sometimes the show suffers, of course, but on balance its the shipping that actually makes the  show work." He later goes on to say that the act of not finishing something to meet your so-called goal of "changing the world" is a symptom of resisting failure – a fear of failing we humans want to avoid at all costs.

Blogger Bre Pettis says it this way, "Laugh at perfection. Its boring and keeps you from being done."

Perfection is not an art, its a virus. None of us can truly accomplish it anyways, so its better to write the notion off from the beginning, dive in with all you have, and go for it. The goal should be to put yourself wholly in, execute – and yes – still refine. But like Michael, accept that your expertise and instincts are most likely on target and keep moving forward.

Getting stuck for perfection-sake is the cancer that keeps good ideas from having great impact.

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