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Throw a lot of pots.
In a craft. Whether pottery, software or writing focus on generating more rather than perfect. This will paradoxically improve your qualityIn a craft. Whether pottery, software or writing focus on generating more rather than perfect. This will paradoxically improve your quality__ over time.
First heard this from david perell
The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality. His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work of the "quantity" group: fifty pound of pots rated an "A", forty pounds a "B", and so on. Those being graded on "quality", however, needed to produce only one pot - albeit a perfect one - to get an "A".
Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the "quantity" group was busily churning out piles of work - and learning from their mistakes - the "quality" group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.
Saying to encapsulate this concept "Throw a lot of pots" mneumonic
This applies across domains from art to programming to writing. Mastering a skill requires a focus on repeated practice. Not perfection. Principles which apply across domains and provide a