(Hint: it’s about more than just food.)
A number of people I know who like cooking also don’t like to nibble at the food while they’re cooking it.
They taste it, of course, since they need to know that it’s actually okay. But the people I’m talking about, who’d rather not go nibbling at it typically say it’s because doing that makes them lose interest in actually eating the food.
I don’t really understand that, to be honest. Not directly, since I like food enough that eating bits of it while cooking doesn’t much hinder my ability to enjoy it.
But there’s a roundabout way it makes sense, and it’s something you yourself are probably familiar with.
It’s that thing where you have a really great idea, and then instead of “cooking” it, you start “nibbling” it.
Know what I mean?
You start telling people about the idea, looking for support and advice, trying to get people to back it.
And all the while, you do little or no actual work on it.
You’ve gone and eaten the food before it was ready, and now you’ve lost interest. But you can’t compare the pleasure of eating the in-progress food with the delight of the fully set table .
Nibbles, it turns out, come at great cost, in cooking and in your best work.
Finish before you start.