Make it exist first

The easy part

Starting even a small project is usually the easiest part. The fresh idea. The excitement! The real challenge is finishing it. We begin with energy, vision, and strong motivation. We imagine how great the final result will be. With every step our expectations grow. What was supposed to be simple becomes more complex, “better”. We add new features, improve the design, and rethink the structure. Instead of progress, we create… pressure.

The trap called “perfectionism”

As developers and professionals, we often want things to be “right” from the beginning. Clean architecture. Perfect UI. Scalable solution. Optimized performance. We raise the bar higher and higher. The problem is that perfection delays completion. Many good ideas never see the light of day because they are not “good enough” yet.

The cobbler’s children go barefoot

Over time, we collect unfinished work. Side projects. Drafts. Domains bought but unused. Repositories with only initial commits. Our “project drawer” becomes full. Each unfinished idea reminds us of something we started but didn’t complete. It is not a lack of skill. It is often a lack of permission to start small.

Solution?

Make it exist first, you can make it good later.

— Adam Grant

This simple rule can change a lot! After nine years of keeping only a temporary placeholder page for my personal website, I finally decided to just publish something basic. Not perfect. Not fully designed. Just real. And once it existed, improving it became natural. The hardest step was not building it. The hardest step was allowing it to be not perfect at the beginning.

This is a process

I wrote this note in February 2026. Now, I’m publishing it in July of the same year. And yes, I’ve already changed the concept for this page.

Twice.

But hey, it’s public now! :)

Journey before destination.

Brandon Sanderson

…

TODO: rewrite this note ;)