Quick Hit: Tina Fey on Breaking the Curse of the Good Girl

Check out what Tina Fey says about the importance of making mistakes in a March 14 New Yorker essay (subscription required). I love this advice; it's what I want every girl to understand about putting herself out there in the world. Perfectionism squashes our ability to take risks, try new things and grow."The show doesn't go on because it's ready; it goes on because it's eleven-thirty. You have to try your hardest to be at the top of your game and improve every joke until the last possible second, but then you have to let it go.

You can't be that kid standing at the top of the waterslide, overthinking it. You have to go down the chute. (And I'm from a generation in which a lot of people died on waterslides, so this was an important lesson for me to learn.) You have to let people see what you wrote. It will never be perfect, but perfect is overrated. Perfect is boring on live television.

What I learned about bombing as an improviser at Second City was that, while bombing is painful, it doesn't kill you. What I learned about bombing as a writer for 'Saturday Night Live' is that you can't be too worried about your permanent record. Yes, you're going to write some sketches that you love and are proud of forever -- your golden nuggets. But you're also going to write some real s**t nuggets. You can't worry about it. As long as you know the difference, you can go back to panning for gold on Monday."