When crafting something, there’s a pattern that applies generally to every domain which consists of iterating until achieving or even surpassing the desired result. For example, the following applies to writing. A first draft captures the idea. A second pass finds the real point buried under filler. A third pass cuts 40% of the words. By the fourth pass, the piece finally says what it was trying to say all along.
The Math
Most people do something once and move on. That’s the 50th percentile. Just doing the thing at all.
One revision: 75th percentile. Two: about 87th. Three: 93rd.
Each iteration puts you ahead of roughly half the attempts still above you. The passes themselves aren’t dramatic. It’s just that at every stage, a big chunk of people stop. They had the same ability. They just didn’t go back and further.
Why People Stop
Iteration used to cost real time. Every revision meant more hours, more energy, more attention. “Good enough” was a rational stopping point.
AI changed that. A review pass that used to take an hour now takes minutes. You can restructure, check tone, cut fat, get a second opinion on clarity. The friction that justified stopping early is mostly gone.
Your Perspective Is the Value
Here’s the part that matters. Every time you iterate, you’re not just polishing. You’re adding your perspective to the result. Your judgment about what’s clear and what isn’t. Your sense of what the reader actually needs. Your taste.
AI can generate and refine. But it doesn’t know what you meant to say. Each pass where you shape the output brings something the machine wouldn’t have arrived at on its own. That’s synergy. Your perspective combined with AI’s speed produces something neither could reach alone.
That potential to add value through your own point of view is available every time you choose to go back and look again.
That’s It
Not everything deserves multiple passes. But for work that matters, iteration is available, it’s under your control, and each round is a chance to add something distinctly yours.
The Quality Is Iterations principle captures this well. Quality isn’t a trait. It’s a process. And the cost of that process just dropped to nearly zero.