Letting go of Perfect: by a Perfectionist.

I’m a perfectionist.

It’s also something I’ve had to learn to let go of. The thing is, perfection is usually subjective. As a designer I understand the feeling of a design never being finished. In much the same way a task or project is never perfect.

And that’s ok.

The thing I’ve realised is that the need for perfection is fodder for the ego. Letting go of perfect actually benefits the job in hand as you involve people more often, get feedback and can make changes sooner, if needed. If it’s not perfect, it can certainly be iterated upon. IN the long run, it can benefit you too as insights gained from feedback help you grow.

Here are some things helping me let go of perfect:

Embracing Vulnerability

Share your work. Better still, share your process. The objective feedback and direction will benefit you and the project.

Understanding the Audience

We all have different communication styles. Some like details, others like the short executive summary. Spending time perfecting the detail for someone who wants the summary is a waste. Tailor the output to suit the audience and make it clear quickly what you need from them to move the project forward. It doesn’t need to be perfect as long as you both get what you need.

Involving People

[The Journey is more important than the destination]

Bring people along the journey with you. You can’t expect people to wait until you arrive at destination perfect and then for them to understand how you arrived at all your decisions along the way. Bringing people on the journey ensures you have buy-in and valuable input throughout.

Setting Deadlines:

[A task will take as long as it takes]

Sounds obvious but think about it: if you had 4 hours to do the tasks vs 4 days you’d certainly use the 4 days. Set deadlines and regular check-ins with colleagues or stakeholders to share what you have sooner.

Not Perfect

The key here is to not be afraid of sharing more often. Even as I write this I know it’s not perfect and I’m probably missing something or not articulating something well enough. But that’s ok.

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