Quality is not always better than quantity

I think in most cases, quantity weighs over quality. Especially when it comes to making art.

The problem with focusing on quality is that we put a lot of pressure on ourselves how good something has to be. We think that everything we make has to be perfect or that it has to be a masterpiece.

This holds us back from producing and shipping our work.

E.g., I recently started to write my articles on my phone. I don’t focus on quality; I put the focus on quantity. The more articles I ship, the better.

If I would focus on quality, it would be better to write them on a computer, take my time before publishing them, reread a few times, maybe find some interesting anecdotes to add, etc.

The downside would be that it would take longer, and I wouldn’t be able to write every day.

The same goes for photography. I try to focus on making a lot of pictures, not on how good they should be.

To paraphrase Arnold Schwarzenegger: everything in life is about repetitions. The more you do something, the better you will become at it.

It’s an old and simple truth that almost everyone agrees with. Then how come we speak so much about quality is always more important than quantity?

Of course, there are certain cases where quality should always be a priority. Medicine is one of such cases among many others.

But as said before, usually more is better.

Even Picasso was constantly producing and shipping – even if it wasn’t his best work. Falling into obscurity is a lot worse than producing weak work but remaining relevant.