In examining my desire to reach some type of success in the world of writing words, I’m beginning to think that my lack of progress might be to the fact that sometimes I think I think too much about it.
Have you ever had thoughts like that?
You want to do Thing A, and the logical thing to do would be to do basic, minor planning and then begin to work on Thing A without anymore elaborate planning and just learn how to do Thing A while working on Thing A.
But then there’s me, who will want to do Thing A and I will start by imaging how cool it will be when I finish Thing A and then I might write my thoughts about Thing A and how I would like to do that and that I would also like to do Thing B and then…well, etc, etc, etc.
So I’ve come to the conclusion that I think I think too much and if I didn’t keep thinking so much and actually did the things I thought about I’d be a lot farther down the road of success.
That’s part of the reason I have started to set goals to finish things. I even read a book called Finish: Give Yourself The Gift Of Done so I can get the secret to getting things done.
The book proposes that part of the reason I don’t finish anything is actually because I’m a perfectionist…yeah, right.
I think part of the reason the book sold so well is people feel good when reading the book–Oh, of course! The real reason I have accomplished so little with my life is not because I’m an utter failure, rather I’m a perfectionist!!!
I’m not a perfectionist. I think what I think I am is an over-thinker, which, if you squint just right could maybe could be a kissing cousin of perfectionism.
There were a number of of passages of the book that resonated with me though, here are several for your enjoyment and contemplation:
“The exercises that caused people to increase their progress dramatically were those that took the pressure off, those that did away with the crippling perfectionism that caused people to quit their goals. Whether they were trying to lose a pants size, write more content on a blog, or get a raise, the results were the same. The less that people aimed for perfect, the more productive they became.”
“It turns out that trying harder isn’t the answer.”
“You will not be perfect, but do you know what’s even more important than perfection? Do you know what will serve you far longer than perfectionism ever could? Moving forward imperfectly.”
“People remember uncompleted goals better than completed ones.”
“When we create a goal, we aim for something better. We want to look better. We want to feel better. We want to be better. But then better turns into best. We don’t want small growth. We want massive, overnight success.”
“Those who cut their goal in half increased their performance from past similar goal-related challenges on average by over 63 percent.”
“Is what you’re working on directly in line with what you want to finish, or is it disconnected by a few steps that take some creativity to explain?”
“What’s next” will always look more interesting than “what’s now.”
“Deciding that you can’t write your book until you’ve read the top one hundred business books of all time is a noble obstacle.”
“Finishers make things easier and simpler.”
“We were miles away from living in poverty, but there was definitely a sense that it was somehow sinful to be successful.”
So, what do you think? Do you think too much? Or maybe you really are a perfectionist? I don’t know. But one lesson of the book I’m taking to heart is that 50% of the way there is better than 0% of the way there!