The ‘Cult of Done’ Manifesto

I’m certain this will emerge as an internet meme almost immediately. Nevertheless, this is an ideal starting point for discussion with my son, who’s a Perfectionist with an Attention Deficit. I mean, think about that…achieving perfect consistently takes longer than his attention span can hold on. Guaranteed non-performance EVERY time!

So, this manifesto comes to the rescue:

1. There are three states of being: not knowing; taking action; and completion.
2. Accept that everything is a draft. It helps to get it done.
3. There is no editing stage.
4. Pretending you know what you're doing is almost the same as knowing what you are doing, so just accept that you know what you're doing even if you don't and do it.
5. Banish procrastination. If you wait more than a week to get an idea done, abandon it.
6. The point of being done is not to finish but to get other things done.
7. Once you're done you can throw it away
   [or turn it in for a grade, depending upon the context – ngj].
8. Laugh at perfection. It's boring and keeps you from being done.
9. People without dirty hands are wrong. Doing something makes you right.
10. Failure counts as done. So do mistakes.
11. Destruction is a variant of done.
    [except where grades are involved – ngj]
12. If you have an idea and publish it on the internet, that counts as a ghost of done.
13. Done is the engine of more.