Is this the best you can do?

There is a tale about Henry Kissinger, President Nixon’s secretary of state and his speechwriter, Winston Lord. One day Kissinger gave Lord instructions for a specific speech and asked him to write the speech well before the time he needed to present it. 

Lord gave the speech to Kissinger and the next day Kissinger came back to him saying: Is this the best you can do?

Embarrassed, Lord took the speech and muttered that he probably can do better. After thorough revision, he delivered the improved speech to Kissinger. Next day Kissinger came back with same question: Is this the best you can do?

Again, Lord took the speech and put his talent to work, improving the speech. 

This same cycle happened altogether 8 times. Desperate, Lord returned the 9th version of the speech to Kissinger and he asked: Is this the best you can do? 

Lord answered: Sir, this is the ninth version, this is definitely the best I can do. 

Kissinger looked at him and said calmly: Well, in that case, now I can read it. 

This reminds me of the beginning of my academic career, when I - after arduous months in the lab - was ready to write my first manuscript from the results. I had not read too many articles in my life and was quite uncertain on how to approach the subject. My first draft was awful, nowhere near ready and I did not even try to make it look like a scientific article before I submitted the first draft to my Professor’s desk. 

She was kind enough to revise that manuscript over and over again, teaching me important lessons on the way (and how patient she was) and finally it was ready to be submitted and got accepted right away. 

Now that I think of that and many, many later manuscripts and reports I have written, I feel deeply ashamed. Not because I was not good. Most of us are not in their early career. But because I took so much of her time. If I did the same Winston Lord, relentlessly corrected my writing, it would have been much less painful for both of us. But I was young novice, way too eager to show my subpar scribbling and did not really understand what a time hog I was for my supervisor!

If you are in the same situation I and Winston Lord were, take your time and revise your work again and again. Until you feel that you cannot possibly make it any better. That time will come. And when you get it back, you probably feel ashamed of how much someone else can contribute and ‘I should have thought this myself’. Do not worry, you will learn. At least you saved much or your supervisor’s time and they probably thought a little more of you than if you had submitted the first draft. 

Always do your best work. Take your time, good bosses know that great results never come with the first draft. Do not be afraid that the boss thinks that you do not work. When you constantly deliver excellent work (best you can do), they know you work hard and they appreciate it. Even if they do not say that.