A mentor of mine called it the “Prison of Perfection”. She was referring to this all absorbing effort to get things perfect – and to not be satisfied with anything less than 24 carat gold results. No second place finishes. No 4.5 scores on a scale of 1 to 5. No deviation from the picture of perfection in your head.
Face it – perfection is an unattainable place – to both reach and sustain. Entropy alone means the well organized office gets messy at times. The variety of customer’s needs and perceptions means you’ll never be perfect in 100% of their views. Introduce people into your perfect process and things are guaranteed to go awry.
Not only is perfection unattainable, the time, energy and effort to move from pretty doggone good to perfect is an exercise in diminishing returns. If excellence requires 8 hours of effort, near perfection might require 20 hours of effort. The difference in the end result will be difficult to discern, the anguish on the person doing the work is great, and the ROI declines.
In the mind of a perfectionist – there are only two states: perfection and total failure. I’m suggesting that there are a range of states – and that striving for excellence is an entirely different goal than striving for perfection. With that comes a shift from obsessing on all the things that are wrong – to a clear picture of the future reality – where you stand and what you can do to get better. The process of taking stock and moving forward is then repeated over and over – smaller steps toward the desired place. This is progress – and not only is it more obtainable, there are major positive side effects.
Letting go of perfection and instead focusing on progress frees us. To relax and thereby get better results faster. To celebrate forward movement instead of agonizing over miniscule details. To be in the moment and fully present, rather than fussing and fixing things. And ultimately to be better, faster – and happier with the results.
