The perfect is the enemy of the good. This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t strive to do our best, but rather that to always expect perfection is to aim for the impossible. Good is possible. When you aim for “good,” or even “really good” or ”great,” you can get the job done, and exceed your expectations. When you expect perfection, you might give up before you’ve even begun. Or maybe you’ll just procrastinate until you have so little time left that you’re forced to lower your expectations.
Perfectionism, in my case, has not hurt me in work or school. It manifests itself in my free time, in the form of unfinished paintings or craft projects. When I’m writing something for work, I can sit down and get it done with a minimum of fuss. But when I’m writing for pleasure, for myself, I compare my high expectations with my actual efforts and I despair of ever fulfilling them. Thus, my resolution to do things, to enjoy the process and not focus on the results.
