Yeah but at some point you have to try knowing you'll fail so you can make a better attempt next time. A lot of people are just sitting at like zero level of organization and refuse to even start trying ever.

Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly. If you wait until you feel great and have all the time in the world to ever go to the gym you might work out 1-2 days a year. If you wake up late and are tired but commit to at least going out and walking down the street and back at lunch and you do the latter more often then you'll be way ahead of the former situation. Maybe different strokes for different folks. Perfectionism ruins a lot of dreams and ambitions of people that would accomplish a whole lot more if they just stopped overthinking about it and learned to leave well enough alone. Just ask any former 'gifted and talented' student.

I think the OOP describes situation where you did your best to chip at the big problem, but it wasn't enough.

Half-assing is when you could act more, but you didn't.

The difference is effort and intention.

What a person should do is pretty contingent on their agency.. If someone doesn't have leverage to organise a systemic solution, they should absolutely apply a bandaid solution. Ideally while keeping half an eye on the possibility of a better solution in the long run, but yeah.. Depends on context and capacity.

Thing is, a bad solution is more likely to be fixed into a good one than that good solution is to be done in the first place.

Gotta get that sunk cost working in your favor.