The First Draft

Photo by Nick Morrison on Unsplash

In the writing community it is a shared sentiment that every first draft is embarrassing. No one wants people to ever see their first draft because we all know that it is a painful, yet incredibly important, part of the writing process. When we embrace the idea of the first draft as writers, it allows us to get past perfectionism and just put thoughts to paper.

We know it’ll be bad. Everyone knows it’ll be bad and it’s okay because it’s part of the process. A writer may write 10 terrible pages of a first draft to finally get to the one sentence that they needed; the one sentence that is the idea they were looking for.

In agile project development we have a similar concept known as the MVP - the minimum viable product. Like the first draft, the MVP allows us to create something that is our starting point for getting feedback. With the MVP we aim, execute, and then we iterate. This is not only how we create complex products that take years to develop, but it’s how we get past perfectionism in our goal setting.

Last week I talked about decision paralysis and how too many options for “next steps” can often keep us from moving forward. This is why we need to embrace a first draft mentality.

Don’t let the unknown of the best-next-step keep you from taking any step.

Author Anne Lamont put it best when she said…

"Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life, and it is the main obstacle between you and a shitty first draft."

In life, we need the first draft. It’s part of the process. It’s the MVP that will spring us forward to the next version and the next version and eventually the best version. The next time you feel stuck with a big goal or project, be kind to yourself and ease up on your expectations. You don’t need perfect, you don’t even need good, you just need a shitty first draft.