The Learning curve versus the need for perfection
There is such a balance between doing a good job and the need to have things be perfect. So often the need for perfection hold us all back.
I have always been "A" type personality and into getting things done, however the need to make it perfect can get in the way. One of the best lessons that I have learned and want to share with you today is the need to have things be perfect before you take the next step.
More years ago,….more than I want to admit I had a very valuable lesson that may be of value to other. It was so important to get things just perfect before moving on or using the content you have just created. This was holding me back and I have seen it hold other back. A very wise man taught me a value able lesson that I still use today.
What a wise man had to say…
“if in 5 years you look back and are embarrassed by the (pamphlet, content, pictures ) you produced you need to be proud of yourself.”
What he was trying to say was, do your best today and you just need to keep moving ahead. If you take the time now to learn everything and make sure it is perfect you will never get down the road to 5 years from now and will not have anything to look back on.
Anything can always be done better, the key to improving is only by doing. The only way to improve and get proficient is to make some mistakes and learn new things. You want to be able to look at the progress you have made and all the things you have learned.
What this does for you
When you can look back and see how far you have come you have a sense of accomplishment and something to be proud of. It gives you confidence to keep moving forward. The mistake I have made and have seen other as well is staying in the need for getting it right the first time before you move on. This can create a cycle of feeling like a failure and that can be an unmotivating cycle and hard to get out of.
So here to a perfectly-imperfect day!
Recent Comments
8
Strong message indeed and such great advice Deb.
I struggled with the compulsion for perfection from an early age. I think it may have contributed to early life athletic success. But I realized I needed to change my thinking when it came to high school academics.
I wanted to get good grades so I could go on to college, but I also enjoyed hanging out with my friends. So I didn't get straight A's, but did manage an athletic scholarship to go to college.
Striving for perfection in athletics may be the one place where this approach may have a positive result.
Thank you for your words of wisdom Deb.
Chasing perfection, can be the show stopper that it was designed to be.
Much better to do the best we can, keep doing that and perfection will come looking for us down the road somewhere.
Nothing can compete with the sense if achievement, we get from just getting stuck in.
Well said, Iris.
Alex.
The reality is no one is perfect. Do your best but get it done, you can always get it right again and again. Even Google publishes an unlimited beta software... their concern is whether people are using it, more than it is a perfect piece of work.
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Great post. I agree, it's true.