Stop Shipping at 95%
The Chase Jarvis LIVE Show
Chase Jarvis
4.8 • 649 Ratings
🗓️ 17 December 2025
⏱️ 13 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Hey friends, Chase here
This episode is short and direct: most creators don't struggle because they lack talent — they struggle because they quit at 95%. They get the work to "pretty good," ship it, and move on. And for a lot of things in life, that's fine. The 80–20 rule works. But when it comes to your core creative craft — the thing you want to be known for — good enough is the trap.
The last 5% is where the details live. It's uncomfortable, slow, and often invisible. Which is exactly why most people stop before they get there.
Here's the core idea:
80–20 works for most things — but mastery lives in the final 5%. If you keep shipping at 95%, you're training yourself to miss the point.
When I worked with Apple to help create the foundation for Today at Apple, the first draft came together fast. In less than a week, we were 95% there. But Apple doesn't hire creators for "pretty good." Pushing through that final 5% took nearly ten times as long — and it set the standard for creative education across hundreds of stores worldwide.
Two common mistakes I see:
- Misusing the 80–20 rule: applying it to the work that defines you.
- Confusing shipping with finishing: stopping because it's hard, not because it's done.
This isn't about perfectionism. It's about discernment — knowing when the work actually matters and being willing to go all the way when it does.
In today's episode I cover:
- Why the last 5% takes as much effort as the first 95%
- How mastery separates pros from amateurs
- A simple way to decide when to go all in
Most people quit too early on the wrong things. When it matters, don't ship at 95%.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Today's episode is brought to you by my weekly email. |
| 0:03.7 | If you, by chance, are not subscribed and had no idea, for example, that I put out an email |
| 0:09.0 | every week for the past, let's call it 10 years, then I would encourage you to check |
| 0:14.3 | out chasedravis.com slash email because it's in this little tidy package that I send out |
| 0:20.6 | the things that are on my radar. |
| 0:23.2 | These are creative challenges. |
| 0:25.4 | These are interesting insights that I've learned from a life in the trenches. |
| 0:29.4 | These are the latest breaking technological stuff, specifically around AI and creativity. |
| 0:34.4 | If you're interested in future-proofing, your career and your life, I put my |
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| 0:45.9 | Please check it out. I encourage you to join tens of thousands of people who receive this email |
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| 1:35.7 | in this communique to you. Looking forward to seeing you there and being in your inbox. Now, |
| 1:41.4 | back to the show. |
| 1:52.9 | Hey friend. Hope you're well. Welcome to today's micro show. You've probably heard of the 80-20 preto principle, right? That 80% of your results come from 20% of your efforts. |
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