In the pile of Beatles paraphernalia that our youngest son got for Christmas this year was a fascinating book describing the creation and recording of every single Beatles song. The book is about 700 pages!

We shared the book around the table and began to wonder how they knew how many ‘takes’ to take with each recording.

Some songs took only one shot or “take” at recording and the song was DONE. The most number of takes we found was 117. Many recordings took multiple takes. Remember, these were the days of live recording, little editing capabilities, and the early development of ‘tracks’.

So how did the band know that they got it right with one take when they recorded “Hey Jude”, “Michelle” or “If I Needed Someone”? How did they know it was time to stop after 117 takes on “Sexy Sadie”? It took them 32 attempts to record “Octopuses Garden.” Did they feel that that last one was just right or did they just give up? What does perfection look like? Would take 13 on “Help” have been better – but they stopped at 12?

It made me think a lot about “takes” in and on the New Year. How many takes do we get, how often in life can we undo, rewind and re-do…. When are we satisfied with one take and ready to move on, when do you give up after 52 “Your Mother Should Know” or 70 “Happiness Is A Warm Gun”?

Thinking about how this applies to business, relationships, projects creative and otherwise, and life in general, here are my thoughts:

· Trust your gut and follow it
· If your gut is not speaking seek wise counsel for advice
· Then Trust your wise counsel
· know when you cannot make it better
· Know when to drop it all together
· BEST of all, know when you hit it on the first take and are ready to move on

We have multiple takes available to us, use them wisely or get stuck seeking perfection.

Happy New Year one and all!

Here’s to many “One Take” successes in 2014.