Keep coming up with new ideas until you retire or die

Limbo is the afterlife condition for those who die in original sin without being assigned to the hell of the dammed.

Embraced by multiple religions throughout history, limbo has become the catchall term for any kind of uncertain period of awaiting a decision or resolution. It’s this ambiguous, disorienting and intermediate state where you’re not really dead, but you’re not really alive.

What’s interesting about limbo is, it’s not an exclusive club. You don’t have to be religious to find yourself there. Anybody can be trapped in limbo.

At each of my jobs at marketing agencies and startups, I’ve had at least one coworker who seem to enjoy being trapped in limbo. They engaged in these neurotic battles for perfection, continued on an infinite cycle of tweaking, editing and enhancing work until we were all red in the face.

Sometimes to the point of staying at the office past midnight.

Just thinking about this behavior makes my face break out in hives. Because I’ve always erred on the side of speed and volume. Doing whatever will keep the story moving forward. Just get the damn thing out the door, since we can almost always correct our mistakes later.

Matter of fact, anytime my team reaches version seven of anything, my instinct at that point is to call it done.

Sorry, but we’ve hit the point of diminishing returns. It’s not getting any better. Even if it does, the improvement will be marginal at best and not worth the multiple of stress it’s causing the team.

Have you ever worked with people who trapped themselves in limbo? Not really dead, but not really alive?

If you want to avoid this level of purgatory, here’s my recommendation.

Avoid the option for unlimited revisions.

God help you if there are unlimited revisions. Infinity is the enemy. Creativity needs constraints. Without it, you take up permanent residence in limbo, shoveling hot coals into an infinite fire of discontent for all eternity.

It’s like my freelance designer friend is always joking, unlimited revisions is just code for, keep coming up with new ideas until you retire or die.

Sounds about right. After all, limbo is the uncertain period of awaiting the decision or resolution. And that’s not where innovation is born. It can’t be.

When we become engrossed in the act of trying to do our work perfectly, progress takes a back seat to fear. Unrealistic expectations and unreasonable standards keep us trapped in the underworld.

Which may not officially be the hell of the dammed according to scripture, but it sure feels like it. Or maybe that’s just the heat.

This whole limbo discussion reminds me of a job interview from years ago. The founder of a startup was looking for a head writer to lead his team, so we had coffee one afternoon. When he asked about my approach to editing content, my two word answer to him was, good enough.

That’s the goal. Just make it good enough, get it out the door and start the next one.

The man was baffled. He looked at me like I just said I shot puppies for a living.

Apparently, he loved nothing more than spending all his time, and I quote, linguistically jousting back and forth with the team until every word was perfect.

That was the end of that job interview. Limbo wasn’t exactly my idea of a productive work environment.

What about you? Are you trapped in a disorienting and intermediate state?

If so, it’s not too late to purge your sins. Particularly the sin of perfection.

Let go of that defect, and heaven awaits.

What if you decided to err on the side of speed and volume?