Tristan’s Type Day 309 of 365

Relentlessly Iterate

· 2 min read

Humans are imperfect beings with imperfect processes and ideas. Humans push for perfection but hardly come close. If any peak is ever reached it is seemingly always a false summit. The grasp of perfection is almost always another valley and steep climb away. No matter how far humans go, there is always more to do, more to unlock, more to find, more to perfect. This push to keep going is a push to iterate—relentlessly.

Adopting an iterative mindset doesn’t require you to be stressed nor is it a requirement to never be satisfied. Looking for opportunities to improve is actually what can help drive your passions and purpose forward. By keeping an eye out for areas to improve, you’re able to smell the roses along the way as you find accomplishments but you remain grounded in the fact that you can keep compounding, keep progressing, and keep improving through iteration.

In the ladder of progression that is life, when you reach up for the next rung your focus shifts to the next one, and then the next one, and then the next. You keep climbing. You want to see how high you can get and how much further you can hone your craft, practice, habit, or ability.

People who relentlessly iterate are people who are fully open to the idea of feedback. They embody the idea that the best gift you can receive is honest feedback. The “good jobs” feel good but never feel as good as the constructive feedback feels “bad.” Bad is in quotations because these people are not offended because they are told where and how they can improve, they are offended that they are not already perfect. They are offended they overlooked something obvious enough to warrant feedback from someone else. Not being perfect is bothersome and throws them back into the laboratory to continue refining and pursuing.

The choice to iterate with a relentless mindset is a choice that permeates through the rest of your life, no matter the area. You can refine how you parent, how you go through your morning routine, how you speak to people, the machine you are building, the way you workout or run, and the diet you eat.

You can always iterate to improve.

You can always iterate to improve in anything you do in life.

By accepting you will never be perfect you can firmly grasp the ladder of life and progression with two hands and start climbing. One rung at a time. One small reach up after the other. With every rung, you show progression, evolution, improvement, and iteration. Through relentless iteration, you will continue to mold yourself into the best version of yourself you can be.

Originally published in the Tristan’s Type newsletter