Quality Means Meeting Spec

We torture ourselves with impossible standards. The drawing isn't good enough. The birthday party wasn't perfect. We could have done better.

Seth Godin cuts through this with radical clarity.

'Quality is not luxury. Quality is not perfection. Quality means meeting spec, and if you meet spec, you're done. If you don't think the spec is good enough, make a better spec. But if you meet spec, you're done.'

This is liberating. Define what 'good enough' means. Then do that. Then stop.

'And what it doesn't mean is that you take something that meets spec and refuse to ship it because you're a perfectionist. That's hiding.'

Perfectionism in parenting is hiding. It's an excuse not to do the thing, try the activity, make the attempt - because it might not be perfect.

Define what a good bedtime routine looks like. Hit the spec. Move on. Tomorrow you can improve the spec. But today, you shipped.