Tag: Done Is Better Than Perfect

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Bitcoin Musings, Getting Things Done and Stacking Sats

On October 20, 2019, the 18 millionth bitcoin was mined. It took 3,935 days to mine 18 million bitcoins. That’s just a few months shy of 11 years. As you may or may not know, there will only ever be a maximum of 21 million bitcoin in existence. More than 85% of all bitcoins have already been created. It is estimated to take over 120 years to mine that final bitcoin in the year 2140.

On January 3, 2009, Bitcoin was born when Satoshi Nakamoto mined the genesis block, which created the first 50 bitcoins. Every 10 minutes, a new block is mined, and a bitcoin reward is awarded to the successful miner. The bitcoin reward for the first 210,000 blocks was 50 bitcoin, then it was cut in half to 25 bitcoin.

When 210,000 blocks are mined, a “halvening” or “halving” occurs, which cuts the block reward in half. On average, the block reward is cut in half every 4 years. On November 28, 2012, the reward was cut from 50 BTC to 25 BTC. On July 9, 2016, the reward was cut from 25 BTC to 12.5 BTC. The next halving is estimated to occur in 7 months on May 20, 2020, when the bitcoin reward will be cut from 12.5 BTC to 6.25 bitcoin per block.

As bitcoin gets closer to reaching its maximum mined capacity, it gets harder and harder to reach the final finish line. I’ve noticed this is the same with many of my projects.

Yes, getting started may be the most difficult step for most people, but the initial rewards usually come easily once you get started. It’s reaching the final pinnacle, which can require the most energy and resources; the final mile, the final paragraph, the perfect finishing touch.

I’m currently working through several projects which I intend to complete before the end of the month. I was thinking about the project on my desk. I completed most of it in the first week I worked on it, but it takes a second week and sometimes a third week to complete the final 25% of the project. If I stay on schedule, I will finish this one tomorrow, and then I can complete the final 2 projects over the next 8 days in time to pass out candy on Halloween.

I know I am a perfectionist, so I’m acutely aware of my internal battles with procrastination and perfection. This year has been a struggle, but the philosophy of done is better than perfect has been my guiding light.

I am aware that 85% perfect is usually more than enough for most of my projects to pass with flying colors. Only a small, select few would notice the difference between my 85% and 90% perfect. In the time it would take to go from 85% to 95%, I can usually complete a new project in that same time period. So, for the sake of completing additional projects and keeping my clients happy, I will celebrate 85% perfection.

So, how will I celebrate the completion of my next project? I’ll continue “Stacking Sats” and buy some bitcoin. Bitcoin is on SALE at the moment (hovering at $7,400 per BTC as of October 23, 2019).

What does “Stacking Sats” mean? A bitcoin can be divided into 100 million units. Those units are called satoshis, in honor of Satoshi Nakamoto. Like a penny is the smallest unit of a dollar, a satoshi is the smallest unit of a bitcoin. I’m stacking my pennies so that I can stack sats. Bitcoin, here I come!

Cheers!

TofuAlan

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Done Is Better Than Perfect

This has been an exciting week for me! It’s the 2nd week of the new year and I’m still (mostly) on point with my 2019 goals and intentions. I’ve read and made my bed daily. I’ve hiked Inspiration Point twice and I’ll probably go again this weekend. My daily steps need some help, but I did log in 24,000+ steps yesterday while swing dancing at Lindy Groove in Pasadena, CA.

I have been voraciously consuming the podcasts from Side Hustle School and I ONLY have 582 more to go until I listen to all the past episodes. Today, while listening to episode 588, Chris Guillebeau mentioned a quote which electrified me. The quote was: “Done, is Better Than Perfect.” A quick google search and the quote has been attributed to, Sheryl Sandberg.

Done, is better than perfect, really resonated with me. As a perfectionist there are many times I find myself frozen when I’m so close to completing my goal or project. Ever since I was a child, I would have a paralyzing fear of not doing my work perfectly. This has been an issue for me my whole life, but when I heard the quote today, I suddenly felt a huge weight lifted off my shoulders.

Currently, I have about 20-25 work projects which need to be completed this month and I was feeling overwhelmed with the amount of time I would need to complete everything perfectly. When I applied the quote to my work, I suddenly realized I could still do Grade A work without the pressure of making it Grade A+ work.

I do amazing work! I’m really good at what I do. That’s not just an idle boast. Because of my perfectionist upbringing, I have really honed my skills over the years. One thing I am very aware of though, is that the time needed to bring a project from great to perfect can be an additional 30-35% of additional time.

Many times, I would look at the competing work in my industry and I was baffled at the projects which would pass inspection. If you compared my projects to similar projects done by someone else, you can definitely see the difference. When my “competition” was getting hired for more work than I was, I was profoundly, perplexed. I questioned one of my long time clients about why I wasn’t being hired as often. He said, “because all I need is a quick sketch, and you’re trying to create a photorealistic oil painting worthy of a classical master.”

In my effort to, “just get it done,” I’m happy to say that I had an idea for a “Side Hustle with my buddy Frank. We were talking about it last year, and I decided to just make things happen. I stayed up late one night and built a prototype for our website with some sample products I thought we could market. Now, to select a handful of products we will actually be selling on our website.

It feels good to have it DONE. Well, in reality, the website is nowhere near perfection, but it’s created and just needs to be refined over the next year. Normally, I would have wanted it to be be perfect before I let it go live. I know I am a work in progress, but I see the value in getting the job done instead of getting the job done PERFECTLY!

Best of luck to getting your work DONE this year. I’m excited to work on www.FrankAndAlan.com this month and to completing at least 15 of my other projects over the next 2 weeks.

Cheers!

TofuAlan