So, as of December 6, 2008, I am a daddy. My son, Mason Merrick Duncan, was born at 3:43 pm on that day, and things have been a ‘changin’ ever since. And it’s been great. 

Predictably, the blogging marketer in me can’t help but harvest some timeless lessons learned in caring for this new human that easily transfer into sound principles to ponder in the business world. Baby Lessons will be the collection of these ideas. Enjoy. 

Being a new parent is nerve-racking. You stare at your baby through those first nights to make sure he’s still breathing. You stress out and call the pediatrician as numerous imperfections come and go. You dwell, and then dwell some more. 

It’s this spirit that also makes you nit-pick your baby like crazy. I call it tweaking. For example, I finally got Mason to sleep in his crib the other night, and he was doing great. I checked on him about every 5 minutes for more than 30 minutes, and every time he was lights out and doing fine. Then, on one of my trips, I realized I hadn’t turned on our air purifier, which doubles as a noise-maker. 

Keep in mind the kid was sound asleep. He didn’t care that the air purifier wasn’t on. But I did. So, I pressed the button, waited for the gentle roar of white noise, and then it happened. Mason stirred, then he turned, then he wailed. He was awake. My tweaking had been counter-productive. 

Be it your own pet project or business, tweaking has similar results in the business realm. Yes, it’s wise to refine your offerings, but there comes a time when you just need to let it be. Let it do its thing. Leave it alone. Get out of the way. 

In that celebrated American trait of “always making somethng better,” I believe we lose track of what we’re really trying to accomplish. We over-tweak.

Some reasons why we over-tweak:

• We expect perfection. This seems noble at first, until you realize that “perfection” is a moving target in this instance, and you’ll never reach it. 
• We get bored. You know how this works. You slave away for six months over a new launch, only to be bored out of your mind with the message and communication once it does launch. So you start tweaking away at the message again. Of course, your customer is just hearing it all for the first time, and your tweaking ruins any chance of any message sticking. 
• We expect too much. Similarly, we expect immediate results (esp. stakeholders). When we don’t get them, it’s easier to tweak and change what we’ve done rather than give it a chance to marinate. 
• We aren’t strategic. Face it: we all want to be “strategic,” but very few of us are. We feel valuable when our sleeves are rolled up and we’re in the middle of the “real” work. So when the real work is done and it’s time to experience the fruits of our labor, we don’t know how to just react. We don’t have the mindset or the commitment to stick to our guns, to allow for the time and focus for effective market penetration. So, reflexively, we roll our sleeves back up and go screw up everything we just made, just so we look busy and feel valuable. 

Tweaking is a really good thing until it’s not. One of the best traits you can develop is knowing when to tweak and when not to tweak. 

So go on: launch that website with a few flaws. Beat that marketing message drum until it makes your eyes cross. Give your idea just a little bit longer to thaw out. 

Just don’t over-tweak.