The Bar Is Lower Than You Think
I've spent my career split between tech startups and the arts, and I've noticed something fascinating: people in both worlds dramatically overestimate the threshold for "worthwhile" work. Not the bar for excellence – that's legitimately high – but the bar for creating something that helps others? It's probably lower than you imagine.
Let me share three stories that changed my mind about this.
A friend of mine launched what he considered a "basic" SaaS tool last year. He almost didn't ship it, thinking it wasn't sophisticated enough. That "simple" product? It's now a seven-figure business. Another friend built a dead-simple LLM tool during a two-day hackathon – just five steps to help people learn prompting. That weekend project ended up getting him into major tech hackathons in Paris and San Francisco, eventually leading to his dream job.
But my favorite example comes from my time in comedy. Back in college, I wrote a sketch at 11 PM, performed it the next day, and uploaded the video thinking nothing of it. Years later, I learned that friends would watch it during finals week to decompress. It wasn't my best work – far from it – but it served a purpose I never intended.
Ira Glass once said something brilliant about creative work. He noted that we get into our fields because we have good taste, but our initial output doesn't meet those standards. This gap, he explained, is what kills so many promising creators. They quit before their execution catches up to their taste.
But here's what Glass missed: your "not good enough" work might be exactly what someone else needs.
Think about it. How many times have you learned something not from the world's leading expert, but from someone just a few steps ahead of you? How often has a "simple" tool solved your problem better than a complex one? When was the last time a rough, honest piece of writing resonated more than a polished think piece?
This isn't about lowering your standards for excellence. Keep those high. Push yourself to get better. But stop confusing "not my best" with "not worthwhile."
I see talented people fall into this trap constantly. They're sitting on ideas, projects, and insights that could help others right now, waiting for some mythical moment when they feel "ready." Meanwhile, someone else ships a "worse" version and helps actual humans solve actual problems.
Here's the uncomfortable truth: you're probably the worst judge of your work's value to others. That "simple" solution you're embarrassed by? It might be exactly what someone needs. That "obvious" insight you're keeping to yourself? It could be the explanation that finally makes things click for someone else.
So here's my challenge: ship something this week that you think isn't quite good enough. Write that blog post. Release that simple tool. Share that rough draft. Not because it's perfect – it won't be – but because it might help someone. And "might help someone" is a much lower bar than whatever impossible standard you've set for yourself.
The world doesn't need more perfectionist's masterpieces gathering dust in drawers. It needs more people willing to share work that's good enough to help someone today.
Now go forth and ship.