Perfect the Process
If your output doesn't need to be perfect, you can instead focus on optimizing the process.
Not everything needs to be as good as you can make it. @shreyas argues that every task falls into one of three categories:
- Leverage tasks (high impact)
- Neutral tasks (these should just be good enough)
- Overhead tasks (just get them over with)
Principle 3:
— Shreyas Doshi (@shreyas) February 12, 2022
All your tasks are not created equal. Doing great work doesn't mean that you put in your best effort for every task
Understand the difference between Leverage tasks, Neutral tasks, and Overhead tasks, and aim for a different degree of quality for each type of task: pic.twitter.com/aOhhoNDK6R
If you're used to treating every little thing like a leverage task, making this transition is easier said than done.
But Nate Soares has a strategy for that called "half-assing it with everything you've got":
I personally find that shooting for the minimum acceptable quality is usually fun. Doing the homework assignment is boring, but finding a way to get the homework assignment up to an acceptable level with as little total effort as possible is an interesting optimization problem that actually engages my wits, an optimization problem which both my inner perfectionist and my inner rebel can get behind.
If your output doesn't need to be perfect, you can instead focus on optimizing the process.
By making a game out of figuring out the easiest way to get something done, you can free yourself to get more done and have more fun along the way.