Perfection Is Too Slow

Perfection will have you waiting until everything is just so, just right. It will never be time to start because some condition isn’t exactly right, something is missing, or some event hasn’t yet occurred.

Perfection requires that what you produce be more than acceptable to everyone, everywhere, all the time, and for all time. The standard perfection sets is higher than anything attained by anyone, anywhere, at any time.

Perfection demands that what you are doing is guaranteed to succeed, or perfection will not permit you to put the work into the world—even of what you are creating is exactly what some people need most right now.

Optimizing is a form of perfection if it keeps you from starting or publishing or launching your work. Going over the same ground over an over again, looking for what can be improved, what might be criticized, or what you are worried about being judged for having created, is another form of perfectionism.

If what you are creating has to be perfect, then you can never create. There are over seven billion people on the planet, all with their own subjective view of what is good and right and true. There is nothing that you can create that will be universally accepted or loved by everyone. When something is loved by millions, it’s as much of factor of luck and timing as it is the work itself.

If you are a writer, write. If you are a singer, sing. If you are an entrepreneur, start your business. If what you are doing is going to create value for others, create it. Perfection is too slow, and every day you wait you are losing time—and you are withholding your gift from that small—but important—segment of the seven billion people who are waiting for you to give it to them.