Saturday Suggestion: Perfection Promotes Procrastination.

Today's Saturday Suggestion is to strive for good enough, as I believe it is a desire for perfection that leads to procrastination.

This poster hangs in my laundry room where I see it daily, and this advice given by Thomas Jefferson is still very applicable today.
His first rule cautions us to avoid procrastination.

As regular readers of this blog know, I have been posting less than usual throughout the past month. Reasons were varied: a little bit of blogger burnout, some social media fatigue, and some self-doubt about whether I really have anything worthwhile to say. My decision to pull back, however, mostly stemmed from a
desire to focus fully on my family and enjoying the holiday season.

I almost didn't write a post for today. This blog, however, has been too much fun to produce and I've made too many wonderful connections through it, to just let it slip away. I know there is a way to juggle all of life's demands. For me, this means finding a balance between living life fully, figuring out my comfort level on social media, and making time to pursue other writing opportunities besides these posts. One of my goals for 2016 is to make that all happen.

Whenever I had a spare moment for blogging in the past week or two, I have spent it trying to get caught up with other blogs I enjoy and like to support. Today, I turned my attention back to the comment section of my own blog - and realized it has been days since I responded to any comments. I always appreciate it when someone takes the time to write a comment, and I feel bad when I fail to offer a prompt response. Like so many things in life, my replies could have easily been offered throughout the week, but now have become a fairly large and outdated task.

I think procrastination often stems from a desire for perfection. A perfectionist can produce excellent results, but just as often that personality trait can paralyze efforts and lead to no results at all. Another of my goals for 2016 is to become better at striving for "good enough" when perfection isn't required.

I think it is actually easier to begin a task when you expect the result to be "good enough" instead of "perfect." A project is more easily completed when we stop trying to fine tune something that is already satisfactory or good enough. "Good enough" does not mean being satisfied with publishing a work full of spelling and grammatical errors, or haphazardly completing a household renovation, or turning in an incomplete homework assignment. It is realizing when the work you have done satisfactorily meets the need, and there is no reason to spend any more time on it.

I am not suggesting that we all begin to feel good about producing shoddy work or stop caring about the end result. I do think, however, it is important to understand how much effort is really required. Knowing when "enough is enough" and the ability to give yourself permission to say, "I'm satisfied that I have done my best" are important skills to develop.

I suspect that if I can learn to follow my own suggestion here today, I will be more productive in everything I do and just as happy with my results.

Does a desire for perfection cause you to procrastinate? 

What do you think of my suggestion?

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