Why I choose "Good" over "Perfect"

Perfection is just perspective.

John Steinbeck once wrote, “And now that you don’t have to be perfect, you can be good.”

I love that line. Because it’s a reminder that doing something well doesn’t mean doing it perfectly. And honestly, what is perfection anyway?

Perfection is just perspective.

I’ve worked with a lot of clients over the years. And there have been plenty of times when I delivered a project I thought was great… near perfect even. But then I’d get feedback. Edits. Revisions. Suggestions that changed the whole direction.

What I thought was perfect… wasn’t.

Because perfection, I’ve learned, is subjective. What’s flawless to me might be incomplete to someone else. What I see as “done” might look unfinished in their eyes.

That realization changed my mindset. My goal stopped being perfect. My goal became good.

To be a good creator. A good partner. A good person. Not perfect… good.

The Stoic philosopher Epictetus said, “If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.” That hits hard. Because the pursuit of perfection is often just fear of being seen as anything less. We hide behind polish instead of stepping out with something honest.

Recently, I asked one of my clients for advice. He told me something I won’t forget: “If you’re waiting to launch until it’s perfect, you’ve waited too long.”

You need feedback. You need a real-world response. If you try to polish something in a vacuum, you’re missing the chance to make it better through connection.

Another client, when I asked why he publishes so often without overthinking, told me this: “Every time I’ve obsessed over making something perfect, it flopped. The things I created quickly - the ones I just tried to make good - ended up performing better than anything else I’d done.”

You see this all the time on social media. The polished, heavily edited video gets half the traction of someone speaking directly into their phone with clarity and conviction. Raw is often more relatable than refined.

Yes, there are exceptions… people like MrBeast, whose perfection is strategic. But for most of us, the viral moments, the meaningful connections, and the breakthroughs come when we stop trying to impress and start trying to connect.

Carl Jung once said, “The most terrifying thing is to accept oneself completely.” Maybe that’s why perfectionism hangs around so stubbornly. Because it gives us an excuse to never really be seen. It lets us hide.

But real growth? Real impact? That happens when you’re willing to say, “This might not be perfect. But it’s honest. And it’s good.”

When you live like that, some people won’t get it. They’ll ask, “Why didn’t you fix this? Why didn’t you spend more time on that?”

But the answer is simple: I’m not trying to make everything perfect. I’m just trying to make things good.

And in a world addicted to perfection, showing up with good work consistently is more powerful than waiting around to be flawless.

So if you’re iterating right now… refining, tweaking, holding off until the stars align… I get it.

If you’re waiting for the perfect time, it’s never going to happen.

If you only share something once it’s perfect, it might already be too late. It might already be over-edited, overthought, and stripped of the thing that made it worth sharing in the first place… your voice.

And most of the time, good is what changes lives.