Anything worth doing…

…is worth doing poorly.

Yes, you read that correctly. Here’s what I mean by that: It is better to do something poorly, than not to do it at all. Here is one example from my own experience:

Years ago, as I was working my way through my Bachelor’s degree, I got an assignment that I was simply unable to do well at. At all. It was made up of three parts, and I kept hitting my head against the wall. I gave it my best attempt, but had to admit defeat and handed in what is my worst piece of academic work ever. As you might expect, and as I had assumed, I got a terrible grade on that paper (a 22 out of 100). I’m still happy I handed in something, and here’s why:

The grade cost me dearly on that module of my studies, knocking my highest possible grade on the module down from a grade 2 pass (a B), to a grade 3 pass (a C). Had I not handed it in, however, I would at best have gotten a grade 4 pass (a D) – and that assumes that I would have passed the course at all. Clearly, doing it poorly was better than not doing it at all.

So yeah, when I say that anything worth doing is worth doing poorly, I mean it, and I stand by it. If you’re able to do it well, good for you, but that’s not always an option – and that’s OK, too.