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(Full episode transcript below show notes)

Welcome back to the Write Now podcast! This week, I’m talking about that Oliver Burkeman article that’s been making the rounds about the “70 Percent Rule”, and what it means for us to do our best — or, as he suggests, slightly less.

I feel like an integral part of the American Dream is this notion of “never settle for less than your best,” so it was interesting to reflect on what that actually meant. 

My friend Maggie also sent me a link to Hank Green’s “The Secret to My Productivity” video from several years ago, in which he shares his “80 Percent Rule”.

I thought they made an interesting contrast to each other, and wondered — since we are technically supposed to “know better” than to aim for perfection (😬), a.k.a. 100%, what should we aim for? 70% of our best? 80%? 94%?…

How about you? What do you aim for, and how do you decide when a work is good enough to be published? Let me know in the comments below!

 

Links Mentioned:

• “Seventy per cent” by Oliver Burkeman (a.k.a. the 70% Rule)
• “The Secret To My Productivity” by Hank Green (a.k.a. the 80% Rule)
• “Fun Is Better Than Perfect”: Write Now Episode 126 with Jimmie Bise

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Full Episode Transcript:

Sarah Rhea Werner (00:00): This is the Write Now Podcast with Sarah Werner, Episode 164: Is “Good Enough” Good Enough? (00:29): Welcome to Write Now, the podcast that helps all writers — aspiring professional, and otherwise — to find the time, energy, and courage you need to pursue your passion and write. I’m your host, Sarah Werner, and today I want to talk about an article that my good friend Jimmie sent me. (00:49): I have to say, I love it when people send me articles. I don’t have as much time or energy as I used to to sort of trawl the internet for interesting things, and so I love it when friends who know me fairly well say, “Hey, I read this and I thought of you.” First of all, it’s just nice to know that your friends are thinking of you. It’s just a good feeling. Second, a lot of this I never would have found myself — or it maybe has a headline that I was not inclined to read. So — deeply appreciative for those people who keep me up to date with good and interesting things that relate to writing. (01:28): This particular article is by Oliver Burkeman, who wrote 4,000 Weeks, which was a book that really helped me to work through my time scarcity. I don’t remember if I’ve talked about it on this podcast or not, but a while ago (and by a while, I mean last year), I was going through this really uncomfortable panicked phase where all I could think about was, “Oh my gosh, I’m going to die soon and I’m not going to have done everything in my life that I wanted to do.” And so I’d work myself up into a frenzy, and every day I would sit down and just push out as much work as I could. Which… in the way that these things work, the work that I was pushing out under panic and stress (and maybe pushing past what was maybe healthy), the stuff I was writing was not very good. I wasn’t having fun. I was having actual panic attacks. It was just not a good time. (02:27): Someone recommended to me during this time that I read 4,000 Weeks by Oliver Burkeman, which is all about: What is time? What do we do with the time that we have? How are we using the time that we have? How are we supposed to use the time that we have? Is there such thing as wasting time? It’s an excellent book, and I journaled alongside reading it, which was very helpful for me in really internalizing what it had to say. (02:59): (Also, for any of you who got concerned when I said I was worried I was going to die soon, I am not. Well, I mean hopefully I’m not, I’m healthy, I’m fine. It was just this irrational fear that crept in and sort of nestled into my brain and stayed there for a while sending little jolts of shock through my nervous system.) (03:23): So, knowing that I was a huge fan of Oliver Burkeman and this book, my friend Jimmie sent me this article, which was a post from Oliver Burkeman’s blog, which I didn’t even know existed until this point. The blog is called The Imperfectionist, and I’ll have a link to it in the show notes for today’s episode. The article itself is called “Seventy per cent,” and in it, Oliver Burkeman postulates the “70% Rule”. So he says, “If you’re roughly 70% happy with a piece of writing you’ve produced, you should publish it.” Now, if you’re anything like me, you have a knee-jerk reaction to someone saying that to you. And it’s kind of funny, because I call myself a recovering perfectionist, but I’m not a recovering perfectionist. I am, deep down, as I keep realizing through different forms and means and methods, very much a perfectionist. So those of you who are anything like me just immediately question, “How could I publish something that is less than my best?” (04:32): And it’s actually kind of funny, because I thought back to the previous episode of the Write Now Podcast — episode 163, where I talked about cynicism around goals — and I was thinking about those posters in school, and I wonder if I got it from there. Those inspirational motivational posters that you see in school hallways that are like, “Always try your hardest!” “Pride and dedication make the difference!” “Make it a great day or not — the choice is yours.” I wonder if maybe I got the idea of “Never settle for less than your best!” from something like that. If you, dear listener, have heard this phrase before, if you know where it’s from, let me know in the comments below. I am very curious where I picked up this nugget of wisdom, because it has become something of a theme in my life. (05:24): I like to make things that are good. I like to make things that I am proud to put my name on. I like to make things that earn five-star reviews. I like to make things where the amount of effort I put in and the amount of quality that comes out of my work are balanced and reflect on each other. And… I gotta be honest, there’s probably some ego in there, too. The things that we write and create and put into the world are reflections of who we are, and why would we want to show the world anything less than our best? There’s also maybe an element — and this is something I don’t talk a lot about — there’s also maybe an element of competition or aspiration. If I hear that the top grade I can get on a project is an A+, I’m going to shoot for the A+. And maybe you are like this, too. Always striving, always working, always pushing forward, pushing yourself past adequate and “good enough”, straining toward that far-off finish line of perfect. (06:35): Now I know intellectually, as do you, probably, that perfect does not exist. In fact, hilariously, as I was jotting down some ideas for this episode in my notes, I misspelled the word “perfectionism.” And Oliver Burkeman addresses this in his blog post. He says, “Most perfectionists have likely heard this advice before, that perfect is the enemy of good and so on,” and he’s right. I’ve talked about this on the show before, but back when I was in the marketing world, I had a boss who gave me some advice, and that advice was, “Sarah, done is better than perfect.” I was spending so long on my reports and my audits and the work I was doing for clients that I was actually taking too much time and not turning over projects quickly enough. It was a whole thing. (07:29): I even have an episode of the Write Now Podcast — if you go back and look right now, podcast episode 126, it’s called “Fun is Better Than Perfect,” and since I love it when things come full circle, that interview is with my good friend Jimmie, who sent me this article. I’ll have a link to that episode as well in the show notes. (07:49): So Oliver Burkeman says, I know, perfectionists; I know you don’t want to hear this, but. He offers an idea for us to consider. He says, following this 70% rule is a muscular and muscle-building act: “Moving forward at 70% takes more guts, more strength of character than holding out for 100% because it entails moving forward amid uncertainty, anxiety, and the disagreeable feeling that comes with putting less than perfect work into the world.” So basically, what he’s saying is if we are able to create and release things at 70% of what we consider perfect (which doesn’t exist, by the way), it will actually help us to become better, more flexible, more resilient writers. It’s basically strength training. Each time you publish something, you create more and more capacity to create and publish more. Again, I will have a link to this post in the show notes for today’s episode. (08:58): So this was an interesting article for me to read. It was put out by a writer and thinker whom I respect, and said some pretty reasonable things. Maybe it is good training, maybe it does build resilience. I know one of the reasons that I struggle to publish weekly episodes of the Write Now podcast is because I think, “Oh my gosh, I don’t have anything good enough to say. I don’t have anything smart enough to say. I have to wait until inspiration strikes. I have to wait until the perfect idea comes to me!” When really, the best episodes that I create are done because I just sat down and thought about things and took notes and worked up the excitement for the topic and then recorded despite knowing that it wasn’t perfect, and hit publish. (09:48): It also raised the idea for me of diminishing returns. When I first read the article, I was like, “70%? That’s a bit low. Maybe I could try shooting for 90%, or 86%.” And that got me thinking about — where is that point? What is good enough? Is it 70%? Is it 70% for some people, but not other people? Is it literally anything other than 100%? And I think by “70%”, what Oliver Burkeman means is it’s at the point where it’s good, and any additional work that you put in after that — those last final tweaks that we all do — is the effort that we’re putting in getting us anything in return? I can put in an hour polishing a newsletter or an episode of Girl In Space… I could put in 25 hours polishing an episode of Girl In Space — and will listeners really know the difference? Will they perceive 25 hours worth of effort between the first draft and the second draft? This is the concept of diminishing returns. It’s sort of like you have a $10 bottle of wine and a $10,000 bottle of wine. When you take a sip of each of those wines, can you taste the thousands of dollars in difference? (11:17): So I was wrestling with this question of, “Is it 70%? Is it 75%? What’s good enough for me, Sarah?” And I sort of sent this article out to some other writers, and my friend Maggie got back to me and said, this article really reminds me of a video that Hank Green published a few years ago. And she sent me a link to a VlogBrothers video from seven years ago called “The Secret to My Productivity”. (And again, I will have a link to this video in the show notes for today’s episode so you can see it for yourself.) (11:49): And basically, he talks exactly about the same thing, though he talks about it in different terms. And for him, he says, you should shoot for 80%. So he has an 80% rule. And basically, he hammers home some similar points — that there is no such thing as perfect, and in fact, if you are struggling to do your best, if you are striving to do your best, what even IS your best? He says no one actually can objectively define what your “best” is. Also, people have different ideas of what “best” refers to — so, maybe you have the best language, or maybe you have the best metaphors, or maybe you have the best character development, but you’re not the best in all of those categories, et cetera. It gets really messy, is basically what he says. (12:40): He also says that what’s considered “best” or good or trendy is always changing. Society values different things at different times, and we don’t know — we can’t know — how that will change, or when, or why. In the video, Hank Green uses the metaphor of a target or a dartboard, and if we aim for perfect or trendy or maybe even “best”, what we’re aiming for is a subjective target, a target that is constantly moving, constantly changing its size and shape. And so he says that 80% effort, 80% to your best, this effort is to increase your chances of hitting the bull’s eye, but he also says you never know where it’s going to hit until you throw the dart… And that’s the real sticking point. (13:36): He also talks about those last final tweaks that we like to make to our work to make it better, to polish it, to make it “perfect”. And he says… those last final tweaks, he says, you’re not learning anything. You’re just scared. (13:50): I think a lot of this comes back to what you value personally in the writing process. For me, it is constant learning and improvement — if I’m not learning while I’m doing something, if all I’m doing is a repetitive tedious action out of fear that I won’t be liked, out of fear of what other people will think of me, then it’s not really doing any good. You’re back to that point of diminishing returns. You can polish and polish and polish, or you can spend that time hitting “publish” and then moving on to create something new (and hopefully better). I’ve also noticed — and this is just a personal anecdote — I guess I’ve also noticed in my own work that when I spend time polishing and tweaking, I’ll go back the next day and realize that a lot of those polishing, tweaking things that I did to make it “better” were actually not better, and I’ve wasted that day’s work. I’ve wasted those hours making changes that didn’t actually make things “better”, whatever “better” is. (15:02): I thought a little more about that dart metaphor. I thought, I’ve been thinking a lot about where to throw the dart and not throwing it, or I’ve been throwing a fistful of darts and then spending all of my time picking up the fallen darts or the darts out of the wall, and what is that getting me? How is that improving my work as a writer? How is that improving my craft? And the answer is… it’s not. It’s perfectionism. Again, you pull off the mask in the Scooby-Doo episode, and it was perfectionism all along. (15:40): It turns out that that 70%, that 80%, whatever you realize it is for you, is a balance. It’s the point of diminishing returns. It’s the point at which you’ve made this as reasonably good as you can at the point in time where you are, at the skill level that you’re at. And I’m preaching this to myself as much as I’m preaching it to you. And you have a choice to make: How are you going to spend your time and your energy? How are you going to spend your 4,000 weeks? How are you going to spend your writing time, your precious writing time today? Are you going to continue to polish, Sarah? Are you going to try to get it from 84 to 85%, or are you going to realize that what you’re chasing is your own ambition? My own aspirations, my hopes that, with a few more tweaks, I can break through into something bigger and better. (16:45): But these are all feelings. And feelings, yes, are important and valid, and they can cue us into when things are right or wrong. But chasing a feeling of hope or aspiration is only going to draw us back into that spiral of perfectionism, of polishing and polishing, of diminishing returns on our time and energy as writers. (17:12): I spoke earlier in this episode about… there are so many things I want to write and produce and publish in my lifetime, and if I spend the next however-many years polishing a piece, instead of publishing it, moving on, getting better, publish it, moving on, getting better, I’m working against myself. (17:32): This thing I’m chasing, which as we all know is perfection, doesn’t exist and can’t exist, and maybe there’s a little bit of relief in that. An exhale — the pressure, the eternal pressure is maybe off. Nobody expects you to make something that is perfect, because what you see as perfect and what they see as perfect is different. All you can do right now is the best that you can do with the time and energy and resources and skills and knowledge that you have, right now. And the way that you’re going to grow that pool of resources, that resilience, that bravery, is to figure out what’s good enough. Figure out: what is my 70%? What is my 80%? At what point can I say, “All right,” and hit publish, and move on? (18:30): I know that the saying is, “Done is better than perfect,” but also in my case, the saying might be, “Done is better than not done at all.” Done is better than sitting on your life’s work and never having it go anywhere. Done is better than nothing at all. And I know if you’re anything like me, a voice crops up and it says, “Ah, are you sure you want to settle for less? Are you going to settle for less than your best?” And I don’t know if it’s settling so much as it is deciding that I am done with this project right now. I’m going to hit save. I’m going to hit publish. I’m going to be done with it, and I’m going to move on to the next thing, because that is how I learn and that’s how I grow as a writer. Because I know better. I know better than to be too precious with my work. I know better. I know that. It’s just moving it into practice that’s really hard. (19:31): So I’m going to encourage you (and I’m also going to encourage myself) in this episode to take this seriously, and to find not disappointment but freedom in the idea that maybe 70%, maybe 80%, is “good enough” to publish. That maybe it’s our job to be bold and brave and less-than-perfect, and to own that, and to set an example for other writers and creators, that your work is worth so much more than sitting on it and waiting for perfection. It helps me to remember — and maybe this will help you, too — I had no idea what I was doing back in 2017 when I published the first episode of Girl in Space, and people loved that show. They wanted more of it. And at the time, I don’t know what my “best” was. I was just creating something as an experiment. I was creating it because it felt good to do, and I was just putting it out into the world because I could, because it was interesting, because it was fun. I wasn’t thinking about, “Is this my best work?” (20:41): And now when I go back and listen to it, oh my gosh, there are so many things I would change. There are so many flaws and imperfections. There are plot holes, there are inconsistencies. There are things that I’m embarrassed I wrote, let alone performed and recorded. Going back and listening to Season One of Girl in Space is, for me, a very cringe-inducing experience. But people loved the show. It won awards. It got me speaking gigs. I got a TV deal. If I would’ve treated Season One like I’m treating Season Two right now, like something that has to be perfect and amazing and flawless, I would’ve never published it. And still be sitting on it, polishing it, giving it those “last final tweaks” to make it “perfect”, when really the most important, the most life-changing thing was that it was published, imperfections and all. (21:44): So I hope this is inspiring and encouraging to you, especially if you deal with perfectionism like I do. I would love to see what happens when you start experimenting and figuring out, “What is my 70%? What is my 80%?” Once you do this, or if this is something you’ve already done, I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments for today’s episode. So this is episode 164 of the Write Now Podcast, and you can get to the comments by going out to my website at sarahwerner dot com — that’s S-A-R-A-H-W-E-R-N-E-R dot com — and navigating to episode 164. Once you’re there, you can scroll down past the show notes, past the transcript, and at the very bottom, you should see a place where you can submit your comments. Please do so. I love to read them. I love to engage with them and respond. I do try to respond to every single one, and I really do want to hear what you have to say. (22:43): I would not be able to make this show without the generous donations from all of my wonderful patrons out on Patreon. Patreon is a secure third-party donation platform that allows you to give $1 per episode, $2 per episode, what have you, to keep this show going, to support hosting costs and keep it ad-free. Special thanks today go to patrons Laurie, Regina Calabrese, Amber Fratesi, Charmaine Ferreira, Kim, Mike Tefft, Poppy Brown, Summer, Tiffany Joyner, and Whitney Magruder. Thank you all so, so much for your thoughtful and generous contributions. I truly do appreciate it. (23:28): If you are interested in becoming a patron of the Write Now podcast, or if you’re just interested in helping to fund the show, you can go out to my website, sarah werner dot com, and click on the link that says, “Support this show.” There are also options if you’re not a huge fan of Patreon — there’s also options for Ko-fi (or “coffee” or however you pronounce it), as well as PayPal. So if you feel moved to support the work that I’m doing here at the Write Now podcast, I would dearly and truly appreciate it. (24:01): And with that, this has been episode 164 of the Write Now Podcast, the podcast that helps all writers — aspiring, professional, and otherwise — to find the time, energy, and courage you need to pursue your passion and write. I’m Sarah Werner, and I’m going to do my 70% best.