My Philosophy on Life

When someone gives you a piece of wisdom that rules the rest of your life, you should remember it. Doesn't it kind of make this person an immortal? One of the founders of everything you do in a way?

I don't remember the person who gave me the philosophy that I adopted and continue to follow. The best I can recollect is that it must have been some guidance counselor at one of the endless church camp retreats that we were constantly herded to as kids. God knows I didn't pick up much else at those things. And I shouldn't even credit God there, to be honest.

But I do recall at least the heart of his spiel. And I definitely remember the opening line, which I follow today:

"Anything worth doing, is worth doing badly."

Obviously this statement is meant to be a goof. But when you look closer, it's a thing of beauty. It's probably the piece of advice I'd leave to my kids if I had to choose. It's not cynicism as much as it is a blatant rejection of perfectionism. How many times have you decided not to attempt something because you were intimidated by the expected result? 

AWDIWDB says if you felt the thing was worth doing in the first place, it's worth doing even if it comes out badly. Even if you don't do a great job. If it's worth doing, even your most mediocre efforts are better than not attempting it at all. 

I find that about 80% of life is just showing up. When you're the person who steps up to do the job badly, take a moment to look around and notice all the people who stayed seated. They might be critical of the job you did. Screw them! Don't you feel better? Of course you do. You did it. Next time, you'll probably do it better. At least you'll do it.

And the dirty little secret, of course, of AWDIWDB, is that you may start out to do something without worrying about the quality of effort you can contribute. But once you get into it, after the intimidation is gone, you'll find yourself working just a little harder than you thought you might. In the end, you might even surprise yourself.  Sometimes a job that you plan on doing badly ends up being one of your greatest achievements.