Perfect vs Good

You’ve probably heard that perfect is the enemy of the good. And that is true. A need to be perfect is a throttle on production – I mean, how many David statues did Michelangelo produce?

That’s the case with my blog here. Not specifically a dearth of David statues, but generally the production throttle. You might say production was down last year, seeing as how I didn’t post a single article all of last year! (Zero is one of the lower numbers I’m told.)

I could blame life, or Covid, or Daylight Savings. But really, sometimes it’s hard for me to get motivated to write. I’ve had some health issues that sap my energy, that is a contributor. But also, I’m a perfectionist. I know in the back of my mind how much effort it takes to be perfect, and I get tired even before I start. Besides, “perfect” as a standard is not specifically defined, which means it can be moved by an irrational brain.

My brain did this tricky thing that I didn’t notice until a few years back. I used to not describe myself as a perfectionist. I didn’t need things to be perfect — I just needed them to be “good enough.” The English language has a concept called synonyms where different words can mean the same thing. I did not notice that “good enough” was another way to say “perfect.” Situations like this are why you need to pay attention in English class.

You know how many perfect articles I published last year? Zero. You know how many good articles I published last year? Zero. (I’ve probably not published one perfect article ever, but hopefully have managed to publish a couple good ones.)

Unrealistic expectations also come into play. In my mind, I should be writing at lease one 500-word article a week. On top of my job and the other things I’ve got going on in life. 

Now let’s say four weeks go by and I didn’t write anything. In the fifth week, is my expectation to write one 500-page article? No. The expectation is to write 5 articles and make up for lost time. 

Well, 5 articles is a lot, and I’m tired, and I can’t write that much so I’ll just not even start. Not to mention trying to come up with a title, and proofreading, etc.

And then four weeks without an article becomes five, and so on.

Letting past baggage weigh down the current moment is a strategy for failure. It doesn’t matter what the endeavor is. Making a load heavier doesn’t make it easier to carry. That’s a lesson I have to remember on a daily basis. Loading up on baggage is a habit of mine. (I’m like that Southwest Airlines motto from a few years back — Bags Fly Free.)

I can’t change any past weeks – well, not literally. I could manipulate the posting dates for any articles I write. But right now I’m not inclined to write 50+ articles and back date them. Even if I were, that would invalidate this article so I’d have to write another one! 

So this article is my Week 1. During a given week, my expectation is to write a 500-word post. This article keeps me on track.

If I keep my mind right, next week is also Week 1. The expectation would be to write one 500-word post.

If I view every week as Week 1, my task is to write one article. That is a very manageable load. Unmanageability doesn’t get you too far in life.

Will I remember this lesson? Well…what’s the date stamp of the article after this one?