My 40 Truths (#1 Done is Better Than Perfect)

T Minus 218 Days to the big 4-0

My perfectly imperfect work from home station

So this is entry number 1 in my big 4-0 project. I’ve done a lot of writing in my life from school and as a PR professional but mostly I’ve written in response to a brief. I’m really good at executing a writing a brief. From writing speeches for my dad from when I was 12 years old -- yes, that speech given by the full-fledged Air Force Colonel was written by a 12-year old -- ‘til I was ghostwriting for a regional CEO for an APEC Publication for world and industry leaders on the topic of developing markets, I’ve been pretty good at delivering to a brief.

What I rarely write about is myself -- social media doesn’t count. I honestly think it’s self-indulgent and writing that I don’t really think anybody would be interested in reading. However, recent conversations with my clutch five friends and a quote I had read on writing for an audience of one has pushed me to begin writing a blog (again).

Another recent development is my impending 40th birthday. If you ask me, I still feel like I’m only 24 years old. But in the past few months, I’ve given birth to a baby and have woken up everyday to aches and pains that never bothered me before -- and these events have brought me face to face with the fact that I’m probably in the 2nd half of my life already, it’s time to start downloading my brain in case anyone cares to read know my musings in the future.

So thus/hence (yes, I know this is wrong grammarly, you’re not my mom), this writing project. 40 things I know to be true in my seemingly short life. These are not all original thoughts -- what is original anymore these days -- but these are thoughts that ring true to me every day and are truths that help me live a pretty happy life so far.

So here is the first truth: “Done is Better than Perfect”

I don’t hear this often enough in the corporate world but when I do, it always comes with a feeling of relief. Work never ever ends in the corporate world, and at some point you just have to decide when you are done. In the end, the first one done is remembered and the first one done gets the full attention vs a work in progress that is pretty good but still needs tweaking. I’m not saying that work needs to be half-assed, but I am saying that one’s goal is should be a specific point -- like they used to say in gradeschool PENCILS UP, FINISHED OR NOT FINISHED. What does this look like? Let’s use the ubiquitous Powerpoint Presentation as an example.

1) Identify what success looks like

I have 10 minutes to present this deck to the boss, he/she has to remember me so I need to make a great FIRST IMPRESSION thus/hence my template needs to look polished and profesh.

I know it seems like flash over substance -- but think of it as flash BEFORE substance

2) Bring Your 3 Key Takeaways Front and Center

Old-school presenting makes you think that you need to lead an audience through a journey then blow em away with a big reveal at the end. Sadly, not in the office setting. This isn’t a movie and folks didn’t bring popcorn (unless you provided the popcorn, in which case, heck, I wanna be in this meeting, is there cheese flavor?).

That being said, if you have your audience’s attention for just the first five minutes, present the three things they should take away. If their attention wavers and the go back to scrolling on Instagram, at least you got them to look at your takeaway from the get go.

3) Support each takeaway with no more than 3 points of proof.

Many conclusions will have a multitude of points to support them, unfortunately, folks have a finite attention span. If you have more than 3 points, no one but you will remember it, heck, maybe you won’t remember them either if you’re in a crunch. Cut it down to the most important ones.

4) Remind the audience of key takeaways in each break.

Remember in the 80s and 90s when we had commercials and after we got back from the Royal Tru Orange ad the show’s banner would flash again and you suddenly remembered what show you were watching? Oh yes, Shaider is on, I’d forgotten! Think of your presentation as a show and remind the audience what the point you just finished it. In old school TV, we used to call ‘em bumpers. Put bumpers in your segment.

5) Bring Your 3 Key Takeaways Back at the end

Surprise, someone left your presentation in the middle of your spiel so they didn’t catch the middle part. Not to fear, you will reiterate the key takeaways again!

Bonus: Rule of thumb, in my days presenting to company bosses,we would allocate 5 minutes for every slide, not counting bumpers and key takeaway slides. It gives the presenter breathing room and enough time for questions.

So there you have it, no need to kill yourself over making 50 slides for a 10 minute presentation. The real challenge is the thinking: How to convey your main idea in just 2-3 slides -- and no, I don’t mean jamming the slide with size 12 font text.

I guess one of the concerns of going for perfect when done is more than fine is that we think there is no opportunity to correct or revise -- TOUCH MOVE, NO ERASE! But in the real world, there is always a chance to revise. Even books that are printed decades ago undergo revisions and new editions with corrections and all.

Huh, so this post didn’t end up exactly as I expected, but at least it’s done.