The perfection trap
When Being a Perfectionist Is Not a Virtue
🏷️ Categories: Continuous improvement, Time management
Striving to improve, we often spoil what is well.
~William Shakespeare, King Lear (1605)
Have you ever felt drained from trying to do something perfectly? Let me tell you, I used to feel that way often. During my university years, I was striving for perfection in everything I set out to do. But let me share something I learned along the way: perfection is like chasing the horizon, no matter how fast you run, it will always be there, in the distance, shining brightly and unattainable.
After this period of my life, I learned that I was expending too much energy on an endless race. That's why today I'm going to share with you the techniques that have helped me to achieve more with less effort, how to approach perfection without dying in the attempt.
Minimum Viable Technique
I often found myself procrastinating in a "smart" way by telling myself, "I haven't finished my work yet because I'm too much of a perfectionist, I'm tweaking details." Sometimes, this was just another way of wasting time because I never considered anything complete, and there was always something that left me unsatisfied.
To tackle this subtle form of procrastination, use the minimum viable technique in setting your goals. This strategy originates from product design for businesses but can be adopted for our personal goals (Rouse, 2020).
Try to identify the point at which your project or goal meets the requirements to be considered finished, without needing to be perfect from the start. The key is to improve it gradually with the experience gained from testing it in reality. This way, you avoid indefinitely postponing the completion of your project and wasting time on trivial details.
I adopted this mindset to act faster; my own Substack follows the minimum viable technique. When I started, I realized it was impossible to plan everything in advance; there was too much uncertainty. How could I know exactly what content would work and who the exact audience would be? In fact, I had a few surprises.
Experience is what allows you to refine, but you have to start. The feedback from the comments you leave is very valuable for gradually improving this space we share. That's the minimum viable approach: start and refine later.
The Law of Diminishing Returns
This is a concept originating from economics, which means that as we dedicate more time and effort to improving a aspect of our project or product, the improvement in results becomes increasingly smaller (Bondarenko, 2023). This makes reaching an acceptable level much easier than reaching perfection.
I can't help but think about those university days when I would quickly get the assignment well underway and then spend several days refining details. The more time I was given to finish, the more I spent on "improving," and there was never enough time—it was like chasing the horizon, never reaching it.
One anecdote that always brings a smile to my face when I recall it is about a professor of mine who used to say: "If I gave them 10 hours to do the exam, they would take 10 hours," and he was right—that's exactly what I always did. I would quickly solve everything and then spend most of the time trying to perfect insignificant details, which sometimes didn't even improve the final result but made it worse. This phenomenon is known as Parkinson's Law, but that's another story...
This diminishing returns closely relates to Pareto's Law, which suggests that often 80% of the results come from 20% of the efforts (Bunkley, 2008; Pareto, 1971). Just think about it for a moment: do you need to achieve a perfect 10/10 in everything? You could be investing all that effort in quickly advancing other goals. Maybe you'll settle for a 9/10, but you'll have accomplished many more things and not just one. Time is a resource like any other, and it must be invested wisely.
Plan Your Next Steps
To wrap up. When facing big goals, it can be overwhelming to think about how to achieve them. That's why planning is crucial, but where to start? Well, the first thing you can do is reflect on what you really want to achieve and see if you're moving towards it. For this, I use my journal.
Once you have a clear idea of what you want to achieve, it's time to prioritize. Take a moment to rank your goals according to their importance; this will help you focus your energy and resources.
Now, the most important part: breaking down those big goals into smaller, manageable steps. Work on small goals that accumulate toward the final result. What specific actions can you take to move closer to your objective?
This way, you won't wander aimlessly, and you'll avoid spending more time than necessary on a goal that's already 99% accomplished. Avoid falling into diminishing returns; play into Pareto's law, not against it.
It's your turn now. Has this article been helpful to you? How will you apply these strategies?
📚 References
Bondarenko, P. (2023, November 28). microeconomics. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/money/microeconomics
Bunkley, N. (2008, 3 marzo). Joseph Juran, 103, Pioneer in Quality Control, Dies. The New York Times. Recuperado 14 de abril de 2024, de https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/03/business/03juran.html
Pareto, V. (1971). Manual of Political Economy. New York : A. M. Kelley. ISBN 978-0-678-00881-2
Rouse, M. (2020, 14 agosto). Minimum Viable Product. Techopedia. Recuperado 14 de abril de 2024, de https://www.techopedia.com/definition/27809/minimum-viable-product-mvp
Shakespeare, W. (2017). King Lear.