It’s so much easier to tear down, than to build up.
You can destroy a building in minutes that took years to construct. The same is true for ideas.
It’s easy to poke holes. To find weak spots. Yet, somewhere along the way we convinced ourselves otherwise. We bought into the belief that finding weak spots is a sign of intellectual strength. That discrediting an idea signals to others how clever and smart we are. A (misguided) sign of intellectual superiority that’s worn as a badge of honor.
What’s harder, so much harder, is finding how to make something work. Seeing a weak spot and offering a solution. Suggesting how to strengthen an idea to get to the end goal.
But we skip over the hard part of offering a solution, and stick to playing the often intellectually lazy devil’s advocate.
Building takes courage, creativity, and adaptability. A willingness to try, fail, and humbly try again. A nimbleness to adjust when things don’t go as planned (because they won’t go as planned). An openness to vulnerably get it wrong, without being paralyzed from trying the impossible anyway.
Progress is messy.
Waiting for perfect is a form of hiding. Perfect means you’ll never get started.
All the energy wasted tearing down, is energy wasted staying stuck in the same imperfect place.
If we’re going to be sitting in imperfect, why not use our intellect, hearts, and energy to courageously innovate progress? One imperfect step at a time.
Let’s be courageous, creating a future that’s better because we had the audacity to try what’s never been done before.
