Are you a perfectionist which won’t settle for anything less?  Perhaps you might need to settle for less.  If you don’t, then you might actually miss out.  Don’t understand what I mean?  Let me elaborate on why you should step away from perfection in your pursuits.

Many of us grow up with the idea that we must strive for perfection.  Whether or not that is a laudable goal is up for debate.  However, what is not up for debate is that perfection often gets in the way of success.  Take this quote.

“Allow yourself the freedom to step away from perfection because it is only then that you can find success.”
– Chase Jarvis

I didn’t understand this for a long time.  It made no sense to me.  It seemed to me that perfection (and no less) would attract the best kinds of customers, yield the best performances, etc.  Surely this sentiment couldn’t be wrong.  However, it is.

I know people who still follow the motto of perfection being all-important.  In fact, they cling to it far more than I ever did.  This means that they often discourage others from starting tasks unless they can complete them perfectly (meaning flawlessly).  This means they never start on their own goals or tasks.  Perhaps it’s only a convenient excuse to not begin or get dragged into things they don’t want to do.  People often use perfection as an excuse for procrastination.  However, it does lead to many unfulfilled dreams and bitterness on their parts and the parts of others who listened to them.

As humans, we are naturally flawed beings.  There is no flawlessness for us in life.  We all have our natural imperfections which we can work to overcome.  However, working to overcome imperfections will not always work the way you hope.  Sometimes, it’s leaning into those imperfections and flaws which will lead to the results you want.  Observe this photo as an example.

This beautiful rainbow is broken up and even fuzzy in places.  However, it’s that very imperfection which gives the character people love.  I’ve received comments about its unusual appearance and how interesting it is.  Now take this photo as another example.

Many would consider a contrail an error.  Perhaps I should not have included it in such an beautiful landscape scene.  However, because I leaned into its presence, I captured a reflection which adds interest to the ephemeral pool.  I leave you in no doubt about whether or not this landscape photo contains a sky replacement.  It’s obviously a completely natural sky.  Now try this photo on for size.

The foremost sunflower displays a couple drooping petals.  Indeed, I’ve received comments about this imperfection too.  However, I leaned into this imperfection for this photo.  I feel it depicts the reality of the sunflower field.  The flowers bloom at different rates.  Because I decided to step away from perfection in landscape photography, I captured these absolutely amazing images.

Ok, this might work for my photos, but how about for other things in life?  Well, the principle very much applies to more in life.  I’ve learned from others that it’s better to finish a task and let others help you refine it to perfection than to never complete the task at all.  As noted before, perfection is often a cloak for procrastination or avoidance.

If you want a personal example, I recently needed to rebuild this website because of problems I don’t want to elaborate on.  I found myself forced to rebuild the site while it was live too.  That’s a terrible scenario.  Still, I made the best of it.  I’ve rebuilt it now, however, I must not believe that my reconstruction is complete.  There are always little tweaks.  I’m continually adjusting something.  If my goal was perfection, then I would never launch my website at all.  Thanks to those tweaks, I would never reach the goal of perfection.  Because I chose to step away from perfection, I can proudly display a new website design.

This counsel applies to so many more things in life than website building and design.  Think about your housekeeping.  How about car maintenance?  The list is long.  If you do not start at all, then you cannot achieve any sort of end.  Thus you must abandon the idea of perfection in favor of completion and improvement over time.  Only then can you achieve success.  That success may include sales, order, and many other goals.  Even an imperfect process can yield the success you desire.  So, don’t focus on perfection.  Just begin and make progress even if it seems never-ending.