Better To Be Prolific Than Perfect

It’s Better To Be Prolific Than Perfect

 

In the book, Art & Fear, David Bayles and Ted Orland shared the following story:

 

“The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups.

 

All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality.

 

His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work of the “quantity” group: fifty pounds of pots rated an “

Those being graded on “quality”, however, needed to produce only one pot — albeit a perfect one — to get an “A”.

 

Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity.

 

It seems that while the “quantity” group was busily churning out piles of work — and learning from their mistakes — the “quality” group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay”

 

Have there been ideas you are waiting to act upon for either fear of being judged or waiting for perfection?

[Image – Culture Wall by Gaping Void. I love their work!]

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