Quantity Over Quality (how to get better at anything)

Aug 25

Written By JQ

Fellow humans, we are awesome.

Our skills are elastic and our brains are dynamic. This simply means we can get better at literally anything — especially when we focus on quantity over quality.

And while quality is important (of course), it can also lead to stress and slow growth.

So this is my guide on why quantity-first is a solid approach and how to harness its power.

Let’s get to it.

Table of Contents Show

What Is Quantity Over Quality?

Let’s start with some definitions.

Quantity over quality means focusing on the volume of something rather than its condition or subjective value.

Simply put, quantity is a great way to discover some truly awesome ideas.

But let’s dig deeper. Let’s explore why this method works so well.

Why Quantity Makes Us Super Awesome

If you’re keen to jump into this quantity game, you may be wondering why it works so well.

Here are the top reasons why (that I’ve experienced).

The Math Is On Our Side

We’re playing a numbers game here.

Bell curves and the law of averages support our scheme.

Basic math tells us that the more samples we have, the more likely that one (or more) of them will be objectively better.

It’s Skill Building

When we focus on quantity over quality, we’re really focusing on practicing.

And as you know, practice makes perfect (well, makes better, at least).

So this is probably the most obvious reason why the quantity game works so well. You’re essentially honing your craft and building new skills.

Recommended: 10 Creative Skills to Be Unstoppable

Neuroplasticity

Neuroplasticity deals with our brain’s innate abilities to change, learn and adapt.

It’s a fascinating science that basically says our brains are super amazing and we can learn anything or improve on any skill.

So we can all throw that whole notion of being “born with it” out the window.

It’s Low Pressure

The pressure of creating something high-quality can lead to lower-quality work.

While pressure can sometimes be good (such as using urgency to gamify stuff), the freedom of focusing solely on quantity is liberating.

It’s like dancing when no one is looking. It’s cathartic. So self pressure, be gone.

It Supports Creativity Flow

Creative flow is when you’re so immersed in the task or project at hand, that you lose track of time and space.

(and quality)

Getting lost in doing (in quantity) can be a great way to spark a flow state.

Get Better At Anything Using the Quantity Over Quality Principle (4 steps)

OK, onto the good stuff.

Here’s a simple process for getting better at anything using quantity over quality.

1. Mindset + Mood

Step one is all about mindset.

We need to shift focus away from qualitative output and put our attention on quantitative value.

For this, I like to adopt a play mindset, which values fun and creativity over perfectionism. It’s helpful to imagine how you made art or did things when you were a child.

Most likely, you were driven by imagination and fun.

Simply being aware of your mindset (and any limiting beliefs or concerns over quality that pop up) is a great first step.

It takes some practice to fully unlock a growth-oriented, play mindset, but just keep this in mind for now.

Recommended: How to Have A Creative Mindset

2. Make Stuff (but don’t worry about finishing)

This is the main stage.

This is where we’re focusing solely on output. The goal here is to create as many things as possible related to your target skill or project.

So, here’s how to create and do things for quantity:

Start new things (especially when the mood strikes)
Create based on feeling, intuition and fun
Make more new things (and don’t worry about finishing or quality)
Rinse and repeat and rinse and repeat

3. Step Away (+ forget)

After you’ve created a good number of things, it’s time to step away.

Stepping away is a great strategy to forget what you did and unlock some much needed objectivity.

So forget about making things and do something else. This could be for an hour or a day (or more).

The goal is to (more or less) forget your first batch of quantity-focused ideas and things. Once you’ve sufficiently forgotten, then we can better reflect on their quality.

4. Come Back + Reflect (+ repeat)

After you’ve cleared your mind and can't quite remember all the things you made, it’s time to analyze them.

This is my favorite part.

For example, I make a lot of songs and ideas and love when I forget about them only to come back later and hear them for “the first time”.

It’s always a great source of self inspiration. And it’s a pretty cool feeling.

But it’s important that we keep circling through these steps. We want to keep creating and keep practicing.

Over time, with this quantity-first approach, I’m positive you’ll be creating better quality things and it’ll take less and less quantity to reach the same quality.