Get Over Your Perfectionism and Write Something (Even If It Sucks!)

You don’t want to write something that sucks.

You want to do your best, but what happens when you set the bar too high?

Perfectionism stops you before you even start. Your inner judge succeeds and you feel stuck.

I’ve got some good news and some bad news. You’re never going to hit perfect. But you don’t have to.

This ghost of an idea that something can be perfect is a lie that robs us of creating things that could be really great or that could move people or help them. Whenever you feel the paralysis of perfectionism, just do something. For goodness’ sake, do anything! Take action.
-Sean McCabe, Overlap

Perfection is an illusion. You’re never going to hit perfect, but that’s okay.

Free yourself from the chains of perfection

What’s the easiest way to free yourself from perfection? Write something! Take a small action each day and see yourself improve.

Getting better at writing means practicing it more often. Every day you practice, you’re closer to where you want to be.

I spent years not writing, not taking action, waiting for circumstances to be perfect. And then I started writing a little each day. This blossomed into writing a lot (most days), and at least  writing something each day.

Outside of writing, I’ve seen this play out in my day job as a coach for software teams. Software development was built on this illusion of perfectionism, until a better way was discovered.

You need feedback to get better

In the 1980’s, many technology companies developed software the old way (“waterfall”), spending a few years just to plan new software projects. They believed their solution would be near-perfect when it was shipped. The reality was, many of these projects never were released, and customers didn’t love the ones that did. This is the perfectionist, writing a book halfway through, not letting anyone read it, and finally, abandoning it.

Today, the best technology companies develop new features in two-week iterations, and some deploy code to their users daily. They know things won’t be perfect, so they get feedback from customers and focus on continuous improvement. This is the imperfectionist, writing every day and getting feedback from readers.

You need quantity to learn

Quantity trumps quality. A parable on clay pots explains why (from the book Art and Fear). A ceramics teacher divides a class into two groups. One will be graded based on quantity of their work, the other based on its quality:

Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the “quantity” group was busily churning out piles of work – and learning from their mistakes – the “quality” group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.

The bottom line? Quantity of output actually increases quality, so strive for excellence through the learning process vs. perfection.

Shut down your excuses with real action

We all make excuses which imply “my life needs to be perfect before I do this thing that’s important to me.”

Any of these look familiar?

• Long day at work? That’s an excuse not to write.
• Didn’t get enough sleep? That’s an excuse not to exercise.
• Not enough time? That’s an excuse not to floss.

The solution to shutting these excuses down is deceptively simple. Set your bar lower:

• Want to write? Give me 50 words.
• Want to exercise? Give me one push-up.
• Want to floss? Give me one tooth. (Please don’t literally give me that tooth. Just floss one tooth only.)

Do this each day, and soon you’ll have a writing habit that sticks. Today, I had the goal to write 50 words and wrote 974. To measure my habit progress, I use my own Don’t Break the Chain printable (get your free Don’t Break the Chain printable).

Key Takeaways

• Perfectionism is an illusion. Just write something! Take a small action each day and see yourself improve.
• Taking action and getting feedback (imperfectionism) leads to better results versus planning for years without doing anything (perfectionism)
• Quantity of output actually increases quality, so strive for excellence through the learning process vs. perfection right now
• You make excuses for not taking action. The solution is to set your bar lower and take real action (ex. write 50 words).
• Track your habit by printing out a copy of my free Don’t Break the Chain template
  • Write your habit out at the bottom of the template
  • Put a big “X” on each day you complete your habit
  • Your only goal now: Don’t Break the Chain

(photo by athrasher)