"Perfection is expensive. The last 5 percent of quality almost always costs a disproportionate amount of time and money." - James Clear

"Seek success, not perfection." - Alan Weiss

When I give presentations on data management, I almost always mention this concept. Too often we're caught up in the idea that if our data isn't perfect it is, by definition, bad or wrong.

But the truth is, our data can never be perfect, and by holding ourselves to that standard, we're always going to be disappointed. And worse, holding that standard is often an excuse to avoid improving the data itself. "If I can't get this perfect, why bother trying?"

So remember, your data will always be imperfect. But that doesn't mean it's not useful. And it doesn't mean we shouldn't aspire to and work for the cleanest data we can achieve.

Just don't let the elusive goal of perfection stop you from being successful.