John Cleese, the famous Monty Python comedian, recalled working with a partner who was much more talented than he was at writing humor. Yet, for some reason, John’s scripts were funnier. They got more attention.

“Why?” he wondered.

But after working with his talented partner for a few weeks, John saw the root of the problem. His partner might have been more talented than he was – whereas he spent less time sitting with the problem.

In modern terms, John’s partner hit “publish” too early, before it was ready. Whereas John always gave his scripts more time – and postponed publishing until the very deadline.

Ernest Hemingway famously said, “the first draft of anything is shit.” It’s true. While it’s completely possible to write something good in the first ten minutes, most things need time. Some more than others.

So – if you feel it’s not ready, sleep on it. Give it another hour, another day, another week.

Don’t publish too early.

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