INCREDIBLE YOU! AND THE IMPOSSIBLE PURSUIT OF PERFECTION

Are you a perfectionist? The sort of person who prides themselves on not doing something unless you can do it perfectly? If so, you might be unwittingly sabotaging yourself without even realising it.

That's because perfection is by definition, completely non-quantifiable. Seeing as perfect isn't an identifiable goal, like finished, trying to make something perfect can be a futile and frustrating exercise.

This frustration can lead us to a place whereby the thing that we are trying to make oh so perfect, never actually gets completed.

Instead we are left with an unfinished task that we either discard, or are continually tinkering with, fooling ourselves that one day it will be finished, and when it is, it will be absolutely, positively, 100%, perfect.

Plausible Deniability

Let's take the case of Tom; Tom is an aspiring young novelist. He has an interest in crime fiction, Tom believes that he has an amazing idea for a story, that will turn him into the next big thing.

Tom is a huge fan of the crime novelist John Grisham, and feels that if he writes what he is capable of, he will surpass the celebrity novelist and become celebrated.

So one day Tom starts to write his novel, he develops his characters and fleshes out their back stories. Tom is excited as he weaves intricate plot lines together, like fine silk strands of a delicate spider's web.

Over the following months Tom locks himself away in his study. At any given time were you to walk past his open window just a few feet above street level, you would hear the click-clacking of his keyboard, as he creates his masterpiece.

The spring months slowly meander into a breezy summer, which in turn floats gently by to be replaced by crisp autumnal winds and an orange-brown carpet of crunching leaves.

Finally, as the last leaves fall, leaving the skeletal, scarecrow-like branches of the trees exposed to the freezing snows of winter, Tom finishes his first draft. He looks upon his work, proudly knowing he is one more step along the road to greatness.

Alas though, Tom is a lot further from reaching his goal than he at first believes. The problem is Tom is a perfectionist and he will not let anyone read one word of his novel before it is absolutely perfect.

There will not be one single word out of place, no superfluous prose, no needless punctuation. The first person to view his grand opus will be breath-taken, moved to tears at the absolute brilliance of Tom's genius.

Ten years later and nobody has seen Tom's novel apart from him. It has been written, re-written, discarded and reinvigorated many, many times, and nobody will ever read it, ever.

Tom has run into a common problem with so-called perfectionists. The thing he is trying to achieve is never perfect, therefore he can never release it.

Defining Perfection

So what is perfection? Is it something that we can define and say this, or that is perfect?

Perhaps some people might say that perfection is the point at which nothing more is wrong. When there is nothing more that needs to be done, then you might say that it is perfect.

The problem with that definition is that you can only really apply that to simple projects with a clearly defined end point.

So for example if you had a door that you needed to paint red. A definition of perfect in that particular instance is quite easy to articulate.

The job can be said to be perfectly done, once the door is evenly covered in red paint. We can clearly see that this was an easy thing to achieve perfection.

However when it comes to longer more complex projects that may or may not be creative, that's when we start to run into problems by trying to define perfection.

How can you possibly say that a novel, or a painting is perfect. Even if it's not a creative project, there are still instances whereby it is ridiculous to even assume that the project can attain some kind of perfection.

In fact we find that the more we become obsessed with perfection, the less likely it is that the project will ever be finished.

Ah yes, well you say that Cryptogee, however I know what perfect means to me. I'm quite comfortable with trying to get things perfect

Well sure, we all have an idea of what perfect means to us, however if you're the sort of person who would say the above statement, then you probably aren't what I would call a perfectionist.

If you have a personal definition of perfect then you are more likely to be happy with making things really great. You realise that when you have done this and you use the words, it's perfect, the words don't necessarily mean you think that it is perfect in the eyes of the world; merely that you have achieved a level of good that you are happy with.

Chasing The Dream

![Perfect Wave_720.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmc6XHWeaJ23b2wcbPfLHoBngqy3jV3uiesgZMVBaoPDNd/Perfect%20W

So we can see that for complex jobs and tasks, perfect is an illusion. If you try and write the perfect novel, or create the perfect website, you will never achieve that perfection.

Mainly because in these areas there are no universal standards of perfection. Each person will have their own definitions of what exactly perfect is, so trying to create the perfect thing will only do one thing.

Cause you to procrastinate . . .

Hmm, now we're getting somewhere; I think we can shorten all what has been written above to:

P + T = JP

So P is perfection, T is time spent trying to achieve perfection and JP stands for the amount of time procrastinating on the job in hand.

Simply put we can say that the time spent trying to achieve perfection, is directly proportional to the time wasted on any given task.

To put it in even simpler terms we can say:

Pursuit of Perfection = Curse of Procrastination

If good is the enemy of better, and better is the enemy of perfect. Then perfect is the enemy of getting things done.

Achievable Perfection Through Redefinition

If we at once let go of our fixed mindset way of thinking about perfection, then we can see that actually it is possible to reach the impossible heights of perfection.

Instead of viewing perfection as a fixed point in the future which we can get to if we endeavour for long enough. We should instead view it as an ever-evolving state that we can tap into any time we please.

So for example, if we go back to our novelist friend Tom who was trying to write the perfect crime thriller novel.

If after his first draft Tom had shown it to a friend who is into crime fiction. Or even somebody who considers themselves a professional editor. Then Tom would have been able to gain some perspective on his novel.

Good constructive feedback would have told Tom where he was going right, and where he needed improvement. The perspective gained from continual feedback during the creative process, along with Tom's passion for the genre, would enable Tom to create a great novel.

The perfection he then could say he achieved, would be in
fact a working framework with room for improvement.

Tom would come to realise that even his hero John Grishmam, didn't start off writing the perfect novel. In fact he had his first novel rejected by 28 separate publishers.

Had Grisham tried to make that first novel the perfect crime thriller, I'm sure he would never have gone on to become a worldwide best-selling novelist. Instead he would have carried on tinkering with that first novel until it was perfect.

No, instead Grisham realised that perfect is not something that you can attribute to the finished article. Perfection is something that you apply to the process, because the process is always growing always improving.

Therefore perfect in most cases means establishing a framework from which you can build upon and improve.

John Grisham's version of perfect was taking three years to write that first novel. Then using the feedback that he got from his 28 nos and 1 yes, and of course the sales he achieved, to improve his writing.

The lawyer-turned-novelist, then went on to write his second book using that feedback. The novel, titled, The Firm, went onto become a worldwide best-seller and turned into a Hollywood film starring Tom Cruise.

I am sure that if Grisham or indeed any of his fans were to read that first novel (A Time To Kill) and compared it with his latest book. He would notice that he has improved vastly and is much further down the line of achieving perfection.

Now imagine for one second that John Grisham had a similar perfectionist attitude to our friend Tom. I am quite sure that the world would never have heard about Grisham and the 275 million worldwide sales, would actually be zero.

No More Excuses

OK so now we know that being a perfectionist, or trying to make something perfect, is usually just an excuse to procrastinate.

The pursuit of perfection comes at the expense of completion and we should try and avoid anything that stops us achieving our goals.

The great thing is; you can still be a perfectionist, as long as you redefine what perfection is.

Perfection is not a magical end point whereby everything suddenly becomes, magically alright. Instead view perfection as the ability to create an initial framework which can be improved upon.

The perfect anything, be it a design, a painting, or a novel, is one that is finished. Because once it is finished, then you can use the experience you have gained, to make the next one even better, and achieve perfection again and again, and again.

Cryptogee

ARE YOU A PERFECTIONIST? HAVE YOU GOT YOUR VERY OWN NEVER-ENDING PROJECT? AS EVER, LET ME KNOW BELOW!