There is a phrase that Lorne Michaels, the creator and Executive Producer of Saturday Night Live, and I both share. I didn’t know we shared it—I thought it was original with me—until, several years ago, a friend told me that it was Lorne’s quotation. Well, it was mine too, before I knew that it was also Lorne’s, but let’s not quibble. The phrase is:

“We don’t go on the air because we’re ready. We go on the air because it’s 11:30.”

Like Lorne Michaels, I was the Executive Producer of a popular sketch comedy TV show. Like Lorne Michaels, my show aired on Saturday at 11:30pm. Unlike Lorne Michaels, I’m not worth $350 million.

But like Lorne Michaels and SNL, we didn’t go on the air because we were ready. We went on the air because it was 11:30.

My show, Almost Live!, was on the air for 15 years. We produced 26 episodes (plus several prime time specials) per year. All told, that’s over 400 shows. And of those 400, I can probably count on one hand the number of times that I didn’t want a little more time to punch up a joke, to re-edit a sketch, to tweak a script. But it was 11:30.

And it’s the same in your world, isn’t it?

My joke might be your report. My sketch might be your presentation. My script might be your product release.

The fact is, we don’t always (or even often) have the time to make things perfect before unleashing them into our world—whether that world is a TV show reaching a million people or a senior staff meeting of a dozen. We don’t have time to make it perfect.

And that’s a good thing.

We’ve all heard the phrase, “Perfect is the enemy of good.” Basically, it means that if we wait until something is perfect, we’ll never complete anything. We all need our 11:30.

As a leader, you’ll sometimes have to make decisions when you don’t have all the information. You’ll sometimes have to launch a new initiative without airtight certainty about the outcome. You’ll sometimes have to release the beta version of that new product and improve it later.

And this is good, because it means you’re taking action—and both the universe and the world of business rewards action.

You’re taking action. Not because you’re ready, but because it’s 11:30. And because you’re a leader.