If something is worth doing, it is worth doing badly

"If something is worth doing, it is worth doing well" is a common english language phrase.

However, it is often dangerous.

Perfection is the enemy of progress.

Wendy Ulrich, HR guru & author

If something is worth doing, it is simply that - it is worth doing.  If you start with little experience, you will probably do it poorly - but only by doing it poorly will you learn to do it better - and one day, you will do it well. The only way to do the important, challenging things well is to first do them poorly.

Wendy Ulrich, HR guru says "If something is worth doing, it is worth doing badly."

Post Script: There is obviously a segment of things that should never be done badly: nuclear fuel rod replacement, deep sea oil drilling, scaffolding for building works - but for the majority of us the important things can start with a low level of quality, perhaps in a safe environment.  If you write a draft, you can improve if with several rounds of edits.  If you want to play piano, you start poorly.  Your first big speech will not be as great as your 100th big speech.

Do it anyway.

This was written on the wall in Mother Teresa's home for children in Calcutta and is widely attributed to her.  It is often given the title "Do it anyway":

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway.
What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway.
Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway.
In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.
---

The words seem to be based on a poem by Kent Keith, but much of the second half has been re-written in a more spiritual way by Mother Teresa.

Mother Teresa, Agnesë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu (Gonxhe meaning "rosebud" in Albanian) was born 1910, in Üsküb, Ottoman Empire (now Skopje, capital of the Republic of Macedonia). Her father, who was involved in Albanian politics, died in 1919 when she was eight years old. She left home at age 18 to join the Sisters of Loreto as a missionary. She never again saw her mother or sister. Agnes initially went to the Loreto Abbey in Rathfarnham, Ireland to learn English, the language the Sisters of Loreto used to teach school children in India. She arrived in India in 1929, and began her novitiate in Darjeeling, near the Himalayan mountains. She chose the name Teresa after Thérèse de Lisieux, the patron saint of missionaries.

There were 5 ancient Greek philosophies of happiness

At the risk of gross oversimplification, there were five Greek philosophies of happiness.

• Socrates - only the poor, those who have nothing to lose, can be happy.
• Aristotle - you have to be born rich to be happy (in reality healthy, wealthy, good family, good friends).  Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics introduced the good life.
• Epicurus - remove all causes of pain to be happy (don't spend time with irritating people or doing annoying things). "Pleasure is the absence of suffering".
• Stoicism - life is about suffering. Happiness is to accept the obstacles with serenity.  Stoicism was founded by Zeno of Citium.
• Hedonism - happiness is spending time doing what gives you pleasure. The basic idea behind hedonistic thought is that pleasure is the only thing that has intrinsic value. 

In reality, the ancient greeks had no word that exactly matches our current word "happiness".  The closest term from their language was Eudaimonia.  Aristotle says that eudaimonia means ’doing and living well’.  What is interesting to me is that I view happiness as a state - but the greeks had no word that represented a steady-state happiness - only an active form of happiness that required behaviours in line with a set of virtues.

Some useful resources:

• Psychology Today article on The Pursuit of Happiness
• Gretchin Rubin on The Happiness Project Modern readings on happiness, Classic reading on happiness
• The 90/10 rule - how to mess up a perfectly good day
• My most-visited-ever blog post 17 daily habits for a fulfilling life
• Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics at Google Books

Get inspiration from Blogs

I am honoured to be mentioned in the same sentence as Seth Godin (video on blog).



JP at Virgin UK has inspired me to share some of the top blogs that I follow and provide daily inspiration for me.

• Seth Godin's blog
• Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project
• Peter Bregman's blog at Harvard Business Review
• TED Blog
• Startup Professionals Musings 
• Verne Harnish The Growth Guy
• Pamela Slim Escape from Cubicle Nation
• Penelope Trunk's Brazeen Careerist
• Leo Baubauta's Zen Habits
• Cameron Herold Backpocket COO

Am I missing any great blogs out there?  Please leave links in the comments if you have found something worth sharing.

A note on how I read blogs - I use Google Reader and subscribe via RSS.  I can have a quick scan once a day of what blogs have been updated and read them directly in google reader rather than visiting several blogs.  I only visit the blog if I want to make a comment.