It’s worth doing right. The first time.

And it doesn’t matter what it is. Whether you are developing a new medical device or cleaning shirts. I had a recent experience with the latter to remind me of this.

A new dry cleaner recently opened in my town. I had some shirts which needed cleaned and pressed and decided to give them a try. I picked up the shirts the other day and left them in the customary plastic bag on the cheap wire hangers. When I got home, I removed the bag to hang the freshly pressed shirts in my closet.

I quickly noticed one of the shirts was still very wrinkled. A second still had a small stain near the collar–a stain I pointed out when dropping the shirts off. So I took these two shirts back to the dry cleaner to address.

At first they tried to make it seem like it was something I did or didn’t do. Eventually, they acknowledged the work was not to the quality and standard they would like and took them back to take care of at no additional charge.

As I exited, I had some mixed opinions. They should have done the job right the first time. But at least they were going to (hopefully) do it right the second time.

Yes, I know I am talking about dry cleaning and pressing shirts. This definitely applies to everything we do, though, including that new medical device concept you might have. Trouble is, we don’t always know what “right” is, especially in the beginning of our journey. Not everything is as simple as cleaning shirts.

Don’t let this discourage you. Don’t let the fear of making a mistake or two keep you from putting your ideas out there. Do learn from your mistakes and keep making progress.