Skip to content

It could have been better (3): Seth Godin on “good enough” and the pursuit of perfection

The pursuit of perfection gets in the way of doing the work that we need to do.

What does perfection actually mean?

It is entirely possible that, as a marketing effort, your definition of “good enough” is “much better than people expect”. If you define “good enough” as “remarkable in the way that customers experiences it,” you’ve still defined what “good enough” is.

“Good enough,” is something to be proud of. “Better than good enough,” means somewhere along the way you’ve made the spec – probably – incorrectly.

… while perfectionism is about us – our belief, our perception of what we’re doing, a place to hide by saying it’s not perfect yet – “good enough,” spec, great work, remarkable work, is not about us. It’s about the person we’re making it for. Which means we have to figure out who we’re making it for. We have to find out smallest viable audience and bring them the smallest viable breakthrough.

We have to figure out how to show up for the people we seek to serve and ignore everyone else. Reading the reviews from people you didn’t make the work for is a trap – it pushes you towards perfectionism.

Seth GodinAkimbo The Pursuit of Perfection

I'd love to hear your thoughts and recommended resources...

%d bloggers like this: