MISTAKE #34: Know when to accept approximate perfection
I’m pretty obsessed with the idea of perfection. I like it because we live in a world that is so far from it.
I’ve got three kids so no day goes as planned.
My house and my car are never as clean or organized as I’d like.
And I’m constantly making mistakes as a father and husband to remind me that I’m not perfect.
I also like perfection because it is something few people pursue and even fewer can get close to.
We let the 80-20 Pareto Principle determine when a project is done.
We get evaluated more on the number of things we do than the quality.
We tend to mislabel good work as excellent work to make everyone feel great.
MY FAILED PURSUIT OF PERFECTION
I’ve always valued the idea of perfection, but there was a time when I had developed the habit of doing the first 95% of a project almost perfectly only to rush through the last 5% once the end was near.
This was most evident in projects I did around my house. I would invest a lot of time to design and build something, but wouldn't take the extra ten minutes to go through the right sanding sequence before painting or staining. Or I'd get lazy and use the tool I happened to have in my hand versus pulling out the right tool. Or I’d simply not take the time to clean up after a project, leaving a mess in my workshop and an array of dirty, misplaced tools for the next project.
I would never start a project unless I had great intentions. But I didn't always finish well.
THE NON-PURSUIT OF PERFECTION
“Better to do something imperfectly than to do nothing flawlessly”
The desire for perfection has also immobilized me many times. There are a lot of things I’ve never even attempted because I determined I couldn’t achieve my definition of perfection.
I’ve never seriously taken up running because I think a 20 minute 5K is beyond my ability and I’m not interested in running a 5K in 21 minutes (which is equally unrealistic).
I don't consistently play piano or paint or practice a foreign language because I realize I can’t afford the time investment to become the musician or artist or linguist I imagine I’m capable of.
It took me almost a year to start publishing these articles. I did a lot of writing and rewriting during that year, but was scared to publish anything because the perfect article doesn’t exist.
Does this sound like you? Like me, do arbitrary or subjective definitions of perfection stop you from beginning or finishing more?
JUST DO IT
“If we wait for the moment when everything, absolutely everything is ready, we shall never begin.”
While the majority of my articles revolve around emphasizing the need to do things better, this one is a reminder that doing nothing accomplishes nothing.
There are things on your list that aren’t perfect, but just need to get done. There are probably little tasks or projects that have lingered for a long time.
Things have gone unfinished while you’ve looked for inspiration to make them perfect. Or they’ve been revised and revised again as your definition of perfection continues to shift.
Or they are projects that started out strong but ran out of steam along the way.
Consider this your sign to finally get some of those long-postponed projects started soon and to get those other projects finished now.