There are often situations – writing a proposal, presentation, research reports, etc., where we need to work on something and deliver an outcome. Unfortunately, in these situations, we get stuck between aiming for perfection and making progress in the face of time constraints.
We want to get everything right; we want it perfect. However, in the pursuit of getting everything right, we get stuck seeking, compiling, course correcting, and, in the bargain, making little progress in completing the task.
In work involving intellectualization, momentum is essential to achieving high-quality outcomes. Momentum comes from starting. For anyone struggling to get out of the trap of perfection and getting stuff completed on time, it would be good to remember the following.
- Perfection is an imaginary ideal. The more you get stuck trying to perfect something, the more time you will lose without knowing whether the work you complete will be perfect in the end.
- Think of perfection as a process instead of a one-time attempt. Start and then seek to improve(towards your ideal) incrementally.
- Perfection vs. Being on time. Sacrifice 10% or 20% quality to deliver on time. Delivering perfection when it is no longer needed is futile.
- When in doubt, focus on the big impact items and get them perfected while being ok sacrificing the quality of the small things.