Are you okay with good enough?

Launching this new site and migrating three years of blog posts has been a great experience for me. Not only did it expose me to the expertise and incredible support available through JBS Partners and Blog Wranglers, but Jim Spencer himself walked alongside me through the process. When it comes to heroics, all he lacks is a cape.

I tried to move the blog myself. Ran into the phrase Apache code. Became paralyzed in fear. Found Jim. Here I am. A long story made gloriously short.

But that's not the whole story.

You see, I'm a tweaker. Whether it's page layout, words, furniture or throw pillows, I feel that with just enough time and rearranging, I can make things practically perfect in every way. To launch this website, I had to give up some of my tweak time.

We had to reach a point where it was "good enough" to launch. That meant we would have to resolve some things after it was live...in front of everyone.

What did I learn?

If you've ever raised an adolescent (or if you remember being one) you know the average teen or pre-teen is convinced that his or her shortcomings are constantly being observed and evaluated by the entire world. Launching this website found my psyche tumbling backward to that kind of thinking.

I was sure that people who mattered (let's remember who just wrote about that!) would notice the meta title hadn't changed; the blog posts of three years all looked as if they'd been written on April 1st of this year (which is sort of funny when you think about it); that the fonts weren't yet perfect; that my slip was showing...whatever.

The point...no one cares. Well, Jim cares, which is why I love him, but no one else minds whether or not I achieved perfection here, they just want to know what I'm doing. And really, many who arrive at this site on any given day might have tumbled in by accident. Those who arrive intetionally aren't here to critique, just to learn.

What are you holding back because you are afraid of judgement? What goodness are you blocking while you wait to be great?

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MimiMeredith 206 pts

JMattHicks Thanks so much for sharing that insight! You're right, there are times we just have to do the right thing regardless of anyone's perception. In fact, those things generally prove to be our most important life moments. And sometimes, the harshest critic is the one that lives inside our own spirit!

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wendykeneipp 18 pts

Hi Mimi -

Great idea to start off the week - sometimes we just need to get it done! This is a similar concept that really stuck with me from Godin's Linchpin and one we've adopted at my company - Publish! We've all got hangups that keep us from wanting to send that project out the door, but if we give in to the hang ups then we're letting that control us, and we'll never make progress. And you're right - no one cares as long as it doesn't impact them.

I'm glad you have Jim - we all need someone like that to think through the details and do the tweaking. The two of you have done a great job on the site - it looks practically perfect in every way to me! : )

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MimiMeredith 206 pts

wendykeneipp Thank you Wendy! I am happier with the site with each passing day. In the old days when denim was really stiff fabric, it would take a long time to "break in" a pair of jeans before they felt comfortable. Sometimes, new processes, projects or new websites are a little like that!

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