They’ve always said “If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right” and that connects with me.  But G. K. Chesterton writes “If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly.”  This also, resonates with me.  The latter is not an excuse for slacking, not even remotely.  It’s a point that we shouldn’t let perfectionism stop us from trying, from doing in the first place things worth doing.

There are areas of my life where I’ve been very glad that I’ve “done it right.”  And there are times when I wish I’d done a better job of doing them badly instead of not at all.  I propose that both quotes have value, and that there’s a time and place for each.  But that introduces a tension sometimes: which is more applicable for this specific thing in front of me?

It seems the more experience I have dealing with that question (and I have a stack of experience with it), the less I think I know about it.  I’m looking for suggestions on this one 🙂  ….

“By Coburn, Alvin Langdon, (1882 – 1966), photographer [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons”