Why You Need To Stop Chasing Perfection

In some way, everyone wants to be great. Some want to be great at work, some at relationships, some at a particular skill. But in reality, very few actually achieve greatness.

But it’s not that you have to be born talented to great. No Sir. Greatness can be achieved through grit. Through trying your best without giving up.

But still, sometimes despite all our efforts, we fall short. We try so hard to get things perfect, yet we fail. And that is where the real issue lies.

Perfection is the enemy of greatness.

Being perfect is like riding a unicorn. It appears so good on paper, but in reality, it’s not possible. But what it means is sometimes while finding the unicorn, you miss a fine-breed horse.

Perfection is a fantasy land. It promises so much, but it deludes us from reality.

We keep trying so hard to reach perfection. We believe that it will set us apart from the crowd. It will be our gateway to greatness. It will take us to the same level as our idols.

But what we forget is our idols are not perfect either. Leonel Messi doesn’t score with every shot he takes. Roger Federer doesn’t win every match he plays. Elon Musk has had failed startups.

Greatness is not about doing things right everytime. It’s about doing things right enough times.

If we keep focusing on a project, just to make it perfect, we waste valuable time we can spend on our next project.

“I’ll start when I’m ready,” we say, yet we are ready only when we start.

Or worse, we don’t start the project in first place, because well, you know, we want it to be perfect. We believe our current level of skills aren’t enough to deliver the results we have in my mind.

A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week. ~ George S. Patton

Call To Action

Evaluate your goals and work status. Are you chasing quality work or the fantasy of perfection? If it’s the later, you know what you need to do.