My thoughts on perfection:
By nature, I'm the biggest perfectionist on Earth.
By nature, I'm also strictly results-driven.
These two things do not mix well.
And yet, I think both qualities are important.
... you should be a perfectionist to the point that it no longer pays off.
I have met a lot of people that are crippled by perfection. They will not move forward in life, or they will crawl at a snails pace because of their need for everything to be absolutely perfect.
These people are usually not very happy and/or successful people.
I was one of these people.
I am extremely happy, but my life is definitely not moving in the right direction, at the right pace.
Then I look at wildly successful people, and look at the quality of their products and and/or services and very often say "damn, that's no where near perfect"... and yet, there they are... miles ahead of all those who want to wait until everything is perfect before they make a move.
...
My observation is that perfection is overrated.
I believe you can achieve 70-90% perfection with 10-30% of your effort.
This sketch sums up my general thoughts. There are, of course, exceptions to the rule... but for about 90% of cases, this is the rule:
To perpetuate a quote that Mark Twain may never have said:
"The secret of getting ahead is getting started"
—Mark Twain (apparently)
Bottom line: taking action beats planning.
Stop planning, start doing.
Think less, do more.
Stop chasing perfection, and get shit done.
Do stuff that isn't quite perfect, or watch others do it and pass you by.
Thank you for reading! Have a perfectly imperfect day!
Bonus thought: doing stuff that isn't perfect leads to mistakes. Mistakes lead to improvements. Net gain: imperfection leads to better results, faster than striving for perfection.
