Exist First, Good Later: The Counterintuitive Secret to Creative Success

I’ve come to believe that one simple phrase contains more wisdom about creation than a thousand books on creativity: “Just make it exist first, you can definitely make it good later.”

This philosophy, so deceptively simple it’s easy to dismiss, has been the hidden catalyst behind virtually every creative and entrepreneurial success I’ve witnessed or studied. It’s also the antidote to the most insidious creativity killer: perfectionism.

Let me share why this approach is so powerful, how it manifests across different domains, and how you can harness it to unlock your own creative potential.

The Cemetery of Unborn Ideas

Somewhere in the universe, there’s a vast graveyard filled with brilliant, world-changing ideas that never materialized. These weren’t bad ideas – they were often exceptional ones. Their fatal flaw? They remained pristine and perfect in their creators’ minds, never subjected to the messy reality of actual existence.

I call this “the cemetery of unborn ideas,” and it’s populated by potential novels, businesses, inventions, and art pieces that would have changed lives – if only they had been allowed to exist in an imperfect state first.

As writer and artist Austin Kleon puts it: “In the beginning, there is nothing. Then, there is something. That something doesn’t have to be good, it just has to exist.” This leap from non-existence to existence, however flawed, is the most crucial creative act.

The Psychological Barrier of Perfectionism

Why do so many ideas die before birth? Perfectionism creates an impossible standard: the notion that something must be excellent from its first iteration. This fundamentally misunderstands how creation works.

Perfectionism isn’t about high standards – it’s about fear disguised as discernment. As psychologist Dr. Brené Brown notes, “Perfectionism is not the same thing as striving for excellence. Perfectionism is the belief that if we do things perfectly and look perfect, we can minimize or avoid the pain of blame, judgment, and shame.”

I’ve seen this play out countless times with talented friends who:

• Never started the novel they’ve been thinking about for a decade
• Abandoned app ideas because someone else launched a “similar” but inferior product
• Rewrote the first chapter of their book 30 times without ever reaching chapter two
• Spent years “researching” a business without ever launching a prototype

What these scenarios share is the prioritization of theoretical perfection over actual existence.

From Terrible to Terrific: The Evolution Principle in Action

The alternative approach – “exist first, good later” – has been responsible for virtually every significant creation in human history. Let’s examine some telling examples:

Technology’s Ugly Ducklings

The First iPhone: Worshipped today, Apple’s original iPhone was actually quite limited. It lacked copy and paste, couldn’t run third-party apps, had no video recording capability, and couldn’t send MMS messages. By modern standards, it was primitive. But by actually existing, it created the foundation for continuous improvement.

Early Versions of Microsoft Windows: Windows 1.0 was clunky, limited, and barely functional compared to modern operating systems. It couldn’t even overlap windows (ironically). But Microsoft understood that shipping an imperfect product was better than pursing theoretical perfection.

The First Web Browsers: Mosaic and early Netscape Navigator were incredibly basic by today’s standards. They crashed frequently and supported minimal functionality. But they existed, and that existence allowed for rapid iteration.

Literature’s Rough Drafts

Ernest Hemingway famously said, “The first draft of anything is sh*t.” Great writers don’t write perfect first drafts – they simply get the words on the page, knowing revision will come later.

J.K. Rowling’s original manuscript for Harry Potter was rejected by 12 publishers. The early drafts apparently contained numerous issues that were refined through editing and revision. Had she waited for perfection before submitting, the wizarding world might never have existed.

Art’s Initial Sketches

Pablo Picasso produced approximately 50,000 works during his lifetime – paintings, drawings, sculptures, ceramics, and more. Not all were masterpieces, but his prolific output allowed the masterpieces to emerge.

Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks reveal thousands of sketches, ideas, and experiments – many abandoned or imperfect. These “failures” and rough drafts were essential stepping stones to his renowned works.

Why “Exist First” Works: The Mechanics Behind the Magic

This approach isn’t just a motivational platitude – it’s grounded in fundamental principles of creativity and human psychology:

1. Feedback Requires Existence

You cannot get meaningful feedback on ideas that exist only in your mind. Once something exists – even in rough form – you can gather reactions, identify weaknesses, and discover unexpected strengths.

When Facebook launched in 2004, it was just a simple profile directory for Harvard students. Mark Zuckerberg didn’t wait until he had built a comprehensive social network with messaging, news feed, and all the features we now associate with the platform. By launching a minimal version, he could observe how people actually used it and evolve based on real behavior rather than assumptions.

2. Motivation Thrives on Progress

Psychologically, humans are motivated by visible progress. The existence of an imperfect first version creates momentum that drives improvement.

As productivity expert James Clear puts it: “When you’re in motion, you’re planning and strategizing and learning. Those are all good things, but they don’t produce a result. Action, on the other hand, is the type of behavior that will deliver an outcome.”

Having something tangible to improve feels vastly more motivating than facing a blank slate. This is why writers often advise “write a bad first draft” – revising existing text is psychologically easier than confronting an empty page.

3. Reality Reveals Unknown Unknowns

No matter how thoroughly you plan, certain problems and opportunities only become apparent when something actually exists in the real world.

Consider Slack, now a ubiquitous communication tool. It began as an internal tool for a gaming company called Tiny Speck. They created it to solve their own communication problems while developing a game. The game ultimately failed, but Slack – the imperfect internal tool – revealed its potential through actual use. Had they waited to perfect it before using it internally, Slack might never have emerged as a standalone product.

4. Existence Creates Its Own Momentum

Something that exists, however imperfectly, has a gravitational pull. It attracts resources, attention, and energy that theoretical ideas cannot.

When Elon Musk produced the first Tesla Roadster, it was essentially a modified Lotus Elise with an electric powertrain. It had numerous limitations and was far from the visionary vehicles Tesla now produces. But its existence proved electric cars could be exciting, attracted investment, and created the foundation for Tesla’s evolution.

From Philosophy to Practice: Making “Exist First” Work for You

How can you apply this principle to your own creative and professional endeavors? Here are practical approaches I’ve seen work across domains:

Embrace the Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

In product development, the concept of the MVP has become well-established: create the simplest version that can provide value and generate feedback.

But many misunderstand the MVP as “the smallest good product” rather than “the quickest route to existence.” Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn founder, captured this perfectly: “If you are not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late.”

What this means in practice:

• Launch with core functionality only
• Accept that early users will see limitations
• Focus on the one thing your creation must do well

When I worked with a startup founder who had spent 18 months trying to perfect an app before launch, we reset his thinking by identifying the absolute core value proposition. We stripped away 90% of planned features and launched within three weeks. The simplified product attracted early users who provided invaluable feedback that fundamentally reshaped the product’s direction – in ways the founder could never have anticipated without real-world usage.

Set Existence Deadlines, Not Quality Thresholds

For personal projects, one of the most effective approaches I’ve seen is setting “existence deadlines” rather than quality thresholds.

Instead of “I’ll launch when it’s good enough,” try “It will exist in some form by June 30th.” This mental shift is subtle but powerful, forcing prioritization based on time rather than subjective quality assessments.

A novelist friend struggled for years with her manuscript, constantly revising early chapters. When she committed to a complete first draft by a specific date – regardless of quality – she finally finished the full story. The complete draft, though rough, gave her the full picture needed for effective revision, and she published the following year.

Practice Deliberate Imperfection

Counterintuitively, deliberately including imperfections can liberate your creative process. This isn’t about being sloppy – it’s about consciously accepting imperfection as part of the process.

Artist Stefan Sagmeister intentionally includes at least one “error” in his designs, freeing himself from paralysis. Programmer Kathy Sierra advocates writing the “worst possible version” of a function before refining it, easing the mental block of initialization.

I’ve personally found that writing a deliberately bad first paragraph breaks the inertia of starting new writing projects. By removing the pressure of quality, the words begin to flow.

Use Time Constraints as Creative Accelerants

Limited time forces existence over perfection. This is why hackathons, 48-hour film contests, and NaNoWriMo (write a novel in a month) often produce surprisingly compelling results.

Try:

• The Pomodoro method: 25-minute focused creation sprints
• Setting artificial deadlines with real consequences (public commitments)
• Timeboxing revision: “I’ll spend exactly one hour improving this, then it ships”

A designer colleague creates initial logo concepts with a strict 30-minute timer. This constraint forces rapid experimentation and prevents overthinking. The time-constrained versions are often more creative than those given unlimited time.

The Hidden Benefits of Embracing Imperfection

Beyond the obvious advantage of actually creating things rather than merely contemplating them, the “exist first, good later” approach yields several surprising benefits:

Psychological Resilience

When your identity isn’t tied to creating perfect things, but rather to the process of improvement, you become more resilient to criticism and setbacks.

Author Neil Gaiman describes this mindset: “Remember that, sooner or later, before it ever reaches perfection, you will have to let it go and move on and start to write the next thing. Perfection is like chasing the horizon. Keep moving.”

Accelerated Learning

The rapid feedback cycles generated by this approach lead to faster skill development than theoretical study or planning.

In “Art & Fear,” authors David Bayles and Ted Orland share a story about a ceramics teacher who divided his class into two groups. One would be graded solely on quantity (50 pounds of pots = A), the other solely on quality (one perfect pot = A). Surprisingly, the quantity group produced the highest quality work, as they iterated quickly through mistakes while the “quality” group got stuck in theory and planning.

Discovery Through Doing

Many of the most innovative aspects of creative works aren’t planned but discovered through the act of creation itself.

Pixar’s creative process embraces this reality. As Ed Catmull explains in “Creativity, Inc.,” their movies begin as deeply flawed early versions. “Early on, all of our movies suck,” he writes. Through iteration and existence, they evolve into masterpieces.

When to Make It Good: The Exception to the Rule

Does this mean quality doesn’t matter? Absolutely not. The philosophy isn’t “exist first, good never” – it’s “exist first, good later.” The timing of that “later” depends on several factors:

Impact of Failure

In contexts where failure has severe consequences, the balance shifts. Air traffic control systems, medical devices, and bridge designs rightfully undergo extensive planning and testing before “existing” in their final form.

Even here, though, simulation and prototyping (forms of “existing”) play crucial roles before final implementation.

Audience Expectations

When presenting to an audience with high expectations and no context for your process, quality thresholds become more important.

If you’re a respected professional giving a keynote presentation, publishing a book with your name on the cover, or launching a product from an established brand, audiences expect a level of polish that may require more refinement before public release.

Diminishing Returns

The “good later” phase should follow the Pareto principle – focus on the 20% of improvements that yield 80% of the quality gain. Endless refinement beyond meaningful improvement is just perfectionism in disguise.

As LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman puts it: “Done is better than perfect.”

The Creative Courage to Exist

Ultimately, embracing “exist first, good later” requires courage – the courage to be judged for imperfect work, to put something into the world that doesn’t yet match your vision, to be vulnerable through creation rather than safe in contemplation.

But this courage pays extraordinary dividends. As Theodore Roosevelt famously said, “It is not the critic who counts… The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming.”

The most successful creators I know share this trait: they prioritize existence over theoretical perfection. They understand viscerally that you can’t steer a stationary ship, can’t improve what doesn’t exist, can’t refine what hasn’t been created.

So next time you find yourself caught in the perfection trap, remember this simple mantra: Just make it exist first. You can definitely make it good later.

Your cemetery of unborn ideas is already too full. Let your next great idea live – messily, imperfectly, but actually in the world rather than merely in your mind. Its very existence is the first victory, and the foundation for all the improvements to come.