Anything worth doing is worth doing badly!

  For years I attempted to teach seminarians, staff and others the truth that 'anything worth doing is worth  doing badly.'  This is a very important truth and one that can ameliorate the damage done by the pernicious idea foisted on many unsuspecting youth that 'anything worth doing is worth doing well.'  That's a very destructive idea that is often paired with other unhelpful advice like 'you can do it, it's easy.'  Now after hearing that why would any child try?  If he/she fails it's a double failure because he/she has been told 'it's easy' so failing is proof he/she is really incompetent.
  So what's wrong with 'anything worth doing is worth doing well?'   It's a prescription for perfectionism.  Initial attempts at anything significant are going to be very imperfect so if the person had been given permission to do it badly he/she would be more likely to persist until it may be done well.
  Let me share a personal experience that makes my point.  When I was in the Marines a few of us were recruited to help paint a married Marine's apartment.  I had no previous painting experience but was given a brush, a can of paint and told to paint that wall.  A few minutes after I began painting the Marine whose apartment we were painting came over to see how I was doing.  He watched me a few minutes and then said "Al, why don't you go buy the beer?"   I got the message.  Thinking I had to be able to do it well I avoided painting after that and to this day I've hardly painted anything.
   This all came to mind yesterday when the Curmudgeon said to the Curmudgeonette "let's wash the windows."  The way this works out is that the Curmudgeon washes and the Curmudgeonette points out streaks and missed spots.  The Curmudgeon operates from an 'anything worth doing is worth doing badly' perspective while the Curmudgeonette assumes 'anything worth doing is worth doing well.'  Besides every window should graphically show both before and after.  (Yes, being on the 15th floor does require a long ladder.)  
  But the windows are clean (more or less) and Curmudgeon and Curmudgeonette are marching toward their Golden Wedding Anniversary.