My daughter Kate is almost four years old. She is fully potty trained for number one. But number two… well, that’s a different story. For a long time, my wife and I treated this as a discipline issue. I thought she just needed to focus. But I was wrong. It is not a lack of ability. It is a hurdle of sensation.
To a toddler, that new sensation feels wrong. It feels scary because it is unfamiliar. It is the physical act of leaving the comfort zone.
Because it feels risky to her, she sometimes retreats to safety. This leads to accidents in her pants. When we focused on “perfect” potty usage, every accident felt like a failure. It just added pressure and fear to the process.
It reminded me that we often treat business the exact same way.
The Problem with “Practice Makes Perfect”
We grow up hearing that “practice makes perfect.” It sounds like good advice. But it is actually a trap.
This phrase implies that the goal is to never make a mistake again. It sets an impossible standard where anything less than 100% is a loss. When you demand perfection from a toddler (or a team), you paralyze them.
My wife introduced a new script. Practice makes progress.
The shift was immediate. The goal moved from “clean pants” to “trying.” If Kate tries and misses, she still practiced. She still made progress. It removes the fear of failure and replaces it with the pride of effort.
The Business Parallel: Fear of the New Sensation
In business and marketing, especially, we treat new campaigns or strategy shifts exactly like Kate treats the potty. We are scared of the “new sensation” of putting imperfect work out there.
We look at a new marketing channel or a new product launch and we freeze. What if we get it wrong? Will it be our fault? Let’s be honest. It’s scary to feel vulnerable. It feels safer to hold it in. It feels safer to delay. We tell ourselves we are just “refining” the plan.
But we are not refining. We are hiding.
We delay launching because we want the “perfect” debut. But while we wait for perfection, we lose momentum. Perfection is static. Business is dynamic.
At JC Labs, we have adopted “Practice Makes Progress” as a core philosophy for growth.
Volume Over Vanity
We get better by doing the thing 100 times imperfectly, not by planning to do it once perfectly.
In leadership, we often obsess over the perfect launch. We want the website to be flawless. We want the copy to be award-winning. But that is just vanity.
Real growth happens in the messy middle. We need to embrace the accidents.
Every ad that does not convert is just an accident in the pants. It is messy. It is uncomfortable. But it teaches us what not to do next time. That is progress.
The End State
We do not start as the best. We become the best by surviving the practice phase.
If you are holding back a project or a decision because you are afraid it will not be perfect, remember Kate. The goal is not to stay clean. The goal is to learn how to go.
You have to be willing to sit in the discomfort of the “new sensation.” You have to be willing to clean up the mess and try again tomorrow.with a simple shift in our communication style.
