Perfectly Fine

                                              

                                           Perfectly Fine

A primary cause of lower or lost productivity and high stress is procrastination - putting something off even though we know there will be negative consequences for the delay.  One of the biggest factors in procrastination?  Not sloth or indifference, but much more often it is perfectionism.  That's right - this is not a slacker disease.

I see this all the time with clients and people attending my workshops.  Young moms with their huge workloads and need to please so many suffer disproportionately.  The demands of modern life and the media send expectations through the roof with airbrushed 14 year old models, high-pressure parenting, and stars "effortlessly" managing their large families (the flock of nannies and assistants are not in camera-range!).  The result is stress, overwhelm, and becoming stuck when it's just too daunting to even begin.

How can anyone do it all and do it perfectly?   Well, we can't.  Perfect is rarely possible in the first place, and even more rarely necessary.

Author, consultant, speaker, and totally cool in-charge guy Alan Weiss with Summit Consulting wrote about this in his latest newsletter HERE  (you can subscribe if you like his style).  

My favorite piece of advice from it is this:  "Success will always trump perfection.  The persistent seeking of perfection is the equivalent of the proverbial gerbil on a wheel:  you'll run hard without making any forward movement until you die." 

Yeah, he pulls no punches, but when an over-achiever like Weiss says things like this I find it liberating.  Those voices from my childhood demanding more, better, faster, in a word PERFECTION are not right and not good for me...or you.

If your own perfectionism in any area is leaving you stuck, here are some tips to manage it.

1.  First become aware of any perfectionistic voices in your head. Learn to answer them with "finishing well is better than not starting".  Then look to people you admire who get things done - even if not always "perfectly".  Notice that they do not suffer from other's opinions of their less than flawless activities and lives.

2.  Break any project up into small bits.  Set a timer and tell yourself you will work for 15 minutes just on the introduction (or whatever).  Don't think about the rest of the project or how much is to be done.  Focus intently for 15 minutes, and if you're feeling good about it, continue for another block of time.

3.  Ask yourself: what is the worst possible outcome if this is not done perfectly (by my own set of standards)?  Who is the audience and what are the consequences?  

4.  It is a fact that it takes 50% of the time/effort in any project to reach the final 10% of quality you are seeking.  In other words, if you spend 2 hours on a project you will complete it to a 90% level after one hour.  Is the final tweaking worth another hour?   Depends upon the goal, but typically it is not.

5.  You don't have to make 100 to get an A!!

So give yourself a break.  Don't strive for perfection because - to sort-of-quote the wisdom of the sage Lady Gaga - "you ARE perfect"!