Fast, Bad and (W)rong
"There is a simple but profound principle that emerges from understanding the way your perceptive filters work: you won’t see how to do it until you see yourself doing it." — David Allen
Hello friends,
Reflecting back on last week’s newsletter… clarifying what we have to do and making plans in advance really does helps. But sometimes, we just can’t plan anymore; either because we don’t know enough about the field we have to step into actions, instead of losing time overthinking ⏳
The last piece of the jigsaw
I’m a perfectionist. 🤷🏾♂️
Whether I’m writing, coding, or designing something, you’ll find me restlessly fidgeting while thinking about my craft until I get the “Aha!" moment. It all feels like a puzzle, and I love it.
Yet, like real-world puzzles, sometimes you just can’t see all of the pieces at once. Sometimes it’s even worse: you won’t know where some pieces go until you experimented (and failed) to place them a couple of times.
“When you have that last piece of the jigsaw, everything will, I hope, be clear..."
— Albus Dumbledore
Thankfully there is a way to make sure you see the whole picture quickly, while still not saying goodbye to your perfectionist desires…
Create Fast, Bad and (W)rong
I first came across this methodology in Ali Abdaal’s newsletter The acronym that changed the way I write, then later on in Yath’s Prem video on design and creativity. Yet, it’s only through my own experience that I saw its true power.
"There is a simple but profound principle that emerges from understanding the way your perceptive filters work: you won’t see how to do it until you see yourself doing it."— David Allen
FBR is the idea of creating fast without caring about the ultimate result. It might be utterly wrong and implement all of the worst practices you can think of. The only requirement is that it does the job, no matter how inefficiently.
"You can't edit a blank page." — Jodi Picoult.
Once you have this (very wrong) prototype in hand, you should have a pretty good idea of what works, what doesn’t and what you be improved in your implementation. You no longer have the scary blank page of death, you have something that you can edit and improve.
Iterate quickly
It’s usually the methodology I follow when I’m confused or lack knowledge about something I have to do. I do it as fast and wrong as possible on purpose to avoid getting stuck in the overthinking mode.
Then I take the prototype and repeat the process.
Fast, Bad, wrong 🤷🏾♂️
→ Fast, bad, a tiny bit better…
→ Fast, good, but could be improved…
→ Fast, great, right 👌🏾
→ Finally something that satisfies me, based on all the knowledge I earned through the previous iterations.
“Done is Better Than Perfect! - Sheryl Sandberg.
This process is even more effective when you’re working in a team environment or for a client (or even for yourself) and can get feedback to guide you on the upcoming iterations.
The quicker you produce, the quicker you learn, the quicker you can perfect your craft.
Sometimes instead of overthinking and overplanning, we just need to sit down and do the work.
Quick Note: If you were forwarded this newsletter, you can subscribe right here:
— What I loved and learned this week
📱 One tool I'm loving: I’ve been checking out Brilliant for the first time this weekend, and I must admit I enjoy it a lot. If you don’t know it yet, it’s a website/app to learn math and science effectively through bite-sized problems and tutorials. I don’t even have a subscription yet but I already find it very useful and well-made.
🗣 Quote of the week: “Silence is a great canvas for your thoughts. That vacuum helps turn all of your inputs into output. That lack of interruption helps you flow.”
— Derek Sivers
— What I created this week
Nothing new this week as I was (and still am) mostly busy on exams and other priorities, but I have ideas for upcoming content and projects that I can’t wait to share with you very soon. ✨
Stop overthinking, time is your ally
It’s 1:00 AM, you would like to sleep but you can’t. Despite having been awake for 18 hours already, your brain doesn’t let you fall into slumber, desperate as it is to find answers. I’ve been there.
How to avoid creative block
The writer’s block, or as they call it in French “le syndrome de la page blanche”, this horrible moment when you stare at the black cursor of your mouse blinking on the empty document you intended to fill. In this post, I’ll dive into ways to get out of it when it happens.
Did you like this newsletter? I would really appreciate it if you would share it with your friends, who might like it as well! 😇
See you next week 👋🏾
Mathieu Céraline.