A Bad Mow Is Better Than No Mow
As I got home yesterday afternoon, something drew my eye to my backyard. What I saw wasn't pretty. The grass was short and gray, but the weeds were tall and green. It looked like an absolute disaster. I'd show you a picture, but not even I'm willing to incriminate myself that badly. To sum it up, the state of my yard was a perfect combination of traveling for 8 of the last 12 weeks, long stretches of brutal heat, and a significant lack of available time on my part. I'm not proud of it, but realize how I got here.
Truth is, I've had some windows to make progress on the yard and similar projects. However, these windows would not have allowed me to do it well. So instead of choosing done, I decided to wait for perfect.....which never came. Last night, though, Pax and I mowed the yard together. He had a blast and worked hard, but he's a terrible mower, just like his brother. It doesn't look great today, but it looks WAY better than before we mowed it. A bad mow is better than no mow.
It reminds me of the wise words of my business partner, Cole. "Done is better than perfect." It's a motto he lives by. I also try to implement it in my life, but in cases like my recent yard debacle, I whiffed. This concept applies to many areas of life. 80% is always better than a future (but not likely) 100%.
Budgeting is much the same. Even if we screw up a few categories, we're way better off than had we thrown caution to the wind. It's better to miss the target by a measurable margin than to throw our hands in the air and dismiss the mission altogether.
If we have a few dozen financial transactions to categorize, even knocking down a portion of them is better than waiting until we can do them all. In the meantime, more transactions will stack up, making completing the task progressively harder and more intimidating. Next thing we know, we're so far behind that we just give up. In an effort to get it perfect, we self-sabotage and fail to get it done at all. This is a common problem encountered by clients. As a solution, I suggest they find small 5-minute blocks throughout the week and knock out small pieces. It doesn't lead to a perfect outcome, but they make steady progress along the way, allowing for the possibility of being done. This can be a massive win.
Insert whatever financial topic you want here. Budgeting, investing, saving, or giving. Or insert whatever non-financial topic you want here. Writing that book, the house projects, the old friend you've been meaning to reconnect with, or the fun hobby you're excited to crush. We can wait until the perfect time (which probably won't come), or make imperfect progress. I've learned this lesson the hard way enough times.....I'm ready to just be done.