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Becoming
Matthew
February 28, 2025
F*** perfection, today is a day of progress.
Have you ever had one of those days where the pursuit of perfection leaves you paralyzed. The blinking cursor taunts you, the page remains empty, and every possible distraction pulls you in. You dream of the perfect idea, one so perfect that its execution feels effortless. But at the end of the day you end up exactly where you started, nowhere.
On days like these, perfection is the enemy of done.
I’ll level with you, today is one of those days. The backspace button on my keyboard is wearing thin and distractions are dragging my focus elsewhere. So what better time to write about perfectionism?
It is easy to fall into the illusion that our work needs to be perfect. This is especially true when we put ourselves out there for the world to see. Whether it’s crafting an email to a colleague, preparing a presentation, or posting the “perfect” Instagram caption, it can leave us feeling incredibly vulnerable.
The fear that others will critique or judge us convinces us that anything less than perfection is not good enough.
If you are anything like me, you’ve probably found yourself over-editing, overthinking, or avoiding action all together. These are classic perfectionist tendencies, and they all have one thing in common:
They keep us stuck.
And at the end of the day, nothing gets accomplished.
Quite simply, the cost of perfection is inaction.
The urge to wait, to make a few more tweaks, does little more than stall progress. In some cases, it prevents us from starting at all.
When starting this blog, I had no plan and no clue of what I was doing. Honestly, that feeling hasn’t changed much. But despite all that, I did it anyway. Why?
Because perfection doesn’t exist.
The illusion of what feels perfect today will just be average tomorrow. The world keeps evolving and the longer we wait, the further we fall behind.
When we focus on progress, on completing actions, we give ourselves the opportunity to learn, grow, and adapt. Done allows us to put in the repetitions we need to improve. Done gets us real feedback. Done builds momentum.
Perfection, on the other hand? It keeps us stuck. It convinces us that we need more time, more tweaks, more waiting. That if we fixate on the task a little longer, we’ll finally make it perfect.
But the truth is, there is no such thing as perfection.
And the progress you seek? It only happens when you take action.
Stop waiting for things to be perfect. Here are some insights to help you start taking action today.
Parkinson’s law: Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.
When there is no deadline, the temptation to put it off until tomorrow surges. Setting a clear deadline provides the positive pressure we need to take action sooner.
We can also use this trick to increase our efficiency by shrinking the time frame we allow to complete the task.
Example:
Set yourself a goal of tidying the house in 30 minutes.
You may be surprised how much you can achieve when you give yourself a sense of urgency.
Pareto Principle: 80% of outcomes result from 20% of all causes.
Most of the value we create comes from 20% of the work we do.
This is not an excuse to leave things incomplete, but its a reminder that we waste a lot of time and energy on things that don’t actually matter.
Next time you feel overwhelmed, ask yourself:
“What single action will have the greatest result?”
Focus on taking actions that will provide the biggest impact.
Writing this blog wasn’t perfect. I was tempted to put it off for another day. But it’s done, and that’s what matters.
Perfection keeps us stuck. Action moves us forward.
What is one thing that you could finish today? (Even if it’s not perfect). Because done will always beat perfect.