The Tyranny of Version 1.0

I’m convinced that a ton of people never achieve their dreams because they are so dismayed by the quality of version 1.0 of whatever their vision calls them to do.

You dream of writing a novel and becoming a writer.  You start your first piece of fiction.  You recognize it sucks.  You abandon the effort.  That’s the tyranny of Version 1.0.

People don’t realize that it’s normal to suck at first (although there is such a thing as natural talent).  They recognize what quality looks like and they know there first go at their dream sucks.  They don’t know about the Suck Phase and The Valley of Death.  They give up in disgust.

Have you ever seen the very first version of the Apple computer?  Yes, this device was a miracle breakthrough in its day, but–sheesh–compare Apple 1.0 to what you have today.  That’s the result of decades of hard, hard work, incremental improvements, failures and recoveries.

If you have a dream and are at the start of that venture, why wouldn’t your 1.0 suck?

The key is to get moving and get your first version up and running (or your sculpture created, or whatever).  If you like, you don’t even have to share 1.0 with the world–though you are better off getting your work out there and getting feedback fairly soon.  Then you iterate.  1.0 sucks?  On to 2.0.  What are the odds 2.0 will be better than 1.0?  You’ll never know if you don’t make it through the first phases of producing that first version.

So beware the tyranny of 1.0.  Muscle through.  Keep working.  Smile.  And have fun.