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Why Perfectionism Is Your Worst Enemy:
Embrace ‘Good Enough’ to Move Forward
Shoaib Ahmed
September 14, 2024
Tell me if this sounds like you..
You want to have a productive life and do the best you can with the limited time you've got.
But you get stuck in place.
Splitting hairs on whether doing one thing or the other would be the best thing. Whether that's getting in to shape or learning a new skill.
There's a name for it.
Analysis paralysis.
Instead of over analysing, looking for the perfect action, just focus on doing something good-enough. That's all.
That's what this week's prompt is all about.
Oliver Burkeman has a great analogy for this in his latest newsletter issue. He compares our wish to control things in our life to boats.
We think we're navigating a superyacht on smooth waters. So we're trying to use systems and processes to give us the optimal path to our destination.
But in reality, we're not in a superyacht, we're in a kayak.
We're not sailing in smooth waters.
We're sailing on unpredictable waves.
Each one as unpredictable as the next. The best we can do in this situation is something good enough to get us moving forward until we face the next wave.
There's no way to know the best next step.
Whether that's in chasing a goal or making the best of our short life. So just focus on doing something good enough to get you over the current wave.
To help you do this, Oliver gives one question you can ask of yourself.
What’s one thing you could do today – or tomorrow at the latest, if you’re reading this at night – that would constitute a good-enough use of a chunk of your finite time, and that you’d actually be willing to do? (Don’t get distracted wondering what might be the best thing to do: that’s superyacht thinking, borne of the desire to feel certain you’re on the right path.)
Oliver says when you forget about complex systems and just focus on doing something good enough, you'll build the habit of taking action.
Eventually you stop needing will powered systems to keep you moving forward. You just do. Take action that moves you inches, yards forward.
So stop trying to steer a superyacht. You're in a kayak.
Forget perfect. Embrace good enough.
That one question from Oliver? Use it.
What can you do today or tomorrow that's good enough? Not the best. Not perfect. Just good enough.
Do that. Then do it again.
And again.
Before you know it, you're moving. You're doing. No more analysis paralysis. No more splitting hairs. Just action. Good enough action.
That's how you ride the waves of life.
That's how you make the most of your time.
So, what's your good enough move today?