I’m near the finish line of a long-term cabinet project. As I bring the piece to completion, I’ve been thinking about the tension between unfinished and finished.

Unfinished work is full of potential. It has hope and promise. A work-in-progress still has the possibility of being flawless in its completed state.

Finished work, however, is finalized. Its strengths and weaknesses are frozen in time. The shortcomings will not be corrected.

Can fear of the imperfect keep us from bringing projects to a close? Maybe. But we can’t let that fear be the governor.

Perfect or imperfect, we have to ship. We have to complete projects. To let them live ... and let them be ... and move on to the next endeavor with confidence.