Speed Up Your Workflow: Overcome Perfectionism with Bad First Drafts, Julia Farina — Part 1

How do you tackle massive, undefined projects without letting perfectionism paralyze your progress?

In this episode of Time Billionaires, Rebecca sits down with Julia Farina, Director of Product Marketing at Calendly, to deconstruct the frameworks that turn "nebulous" projects into manageable wins. Whether you are leading a team at a tech giant or managing your own creative workload, Julia shares how to stop the "perfectionism spiral" and start building time wealth through smarter execution.

Rebecca and Julia explore how timed “hashtag bad version” (#badversion) drafts can help you quickly generate ideas without getting stuck in perfectionism. They dive into why adopting a researcher-oriented mindset, where you ask questions first instead of trying to have all the answers, leads to smarter insights and stronger team alignment.

They also discuss how focusing on micromoments of work, rather than long marathon sessions, prevents burnout and speeds up feedback loops. Julia highlights the importance of conducting a listening tour to gather input from diverse stakeholders and customers, and explains how defining acceptable misses instead of aiming for flawless outcomes creates clarity, helping teams prioritize effectively and make faster decisions.

What You'll Learn:

• Why creating a “hashtag bad version” (#badversion) unlocks creativity and avoids analysis paralysis
• How short, focused sprints move projects forward faster than marathon sessions
• Why asking questions first improves insight and team alignment
• How gathering stakeholder and customer feedback builds confidence and alignment
• Why defining realistic standards helps prioritize work and make faster decisions

Timestamps

1. Mindset shifts for tackling “nebulous projects” – 02:30
2. Conducting a listening tour to gather stakeholder and customer insights – 05:15
3. Embracing the “#badversion” draft to overcome perfectionism – 09:45
4. Defining an “acceptable miss” to stay focused on impact vs. minutiae – 12:10
5. Iterating with feedback and user testing for continuous improvement – 15:20

Connect with Julia
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliafarina1/

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Chapters

• (00:00:00) - Time Billionaires
• (00:01:53) - How to Manage Big, Unclear Projects
• (00:12:00) - How to Write a Bad First Draft