It’s funny how many times I’ve tried to create something only to dump it after weeks of work because it wasn’t good enough and I thought that starting over would be a better option. I’m sure I’m not the only one who has ever done this, but given what I know now that seems like the exact opposite of what I should do.
I have a website that I created back in 2000 that offers a free shopping cart system to photographers (www.showmeproofs.com) because I wanted a free cart system for myself. It is now running the third version of the cart system and it took me about two weeks to create it. I know it’s not perfect, but it works and there are thousands of photographers using it.
But I’ve tried rewriting it since and each time I wanted to make something incredible with more features and tools and options and although each attempt was awesome I never published them because they were not perfect. And that is the problem!
Who cares if it isn’t perfect, there are going to be plenty of people online that are more than happy to point out bugs and issues for me and that makes tracking down fixes much easier. Those abandoned versions could have been polished and distributed if I had just posted them.
See the problem is, not finishing a project is the same as not starting a project in the first place. It’s basically not trying but with more effort. It’s better to finish the project and make changes later if you need to, or make a newer version. Either do something or don’t because it will never be perfect. There is always a better version later, or a new feature in the future.
So even if you decide it’s mediocre finish your project whatever it may be. You can’t always hit a home run but you can always swing the bat!