If you only show your work when it’s perfect, nobody can help you make it better.

Finished work invites applause and very little else. The half-built version is the only one anybody can still influence, so waiting for perfect buys you compliments and costs you the improvements. The fear is reasonable, since rough work exposes you, but the alternative is finding the flaw once it is too late to fix. Help arrives early or not at all.

Show somebody the unfinished thing this week with one specific question attached rather than a request for thoughts. Choose a person who will be useful rather than kind, and thank them even when it stings.