Back when I lived and worked in New Zealand, I once watched a bloke at my local barbershop in Otahuhu spend forty-five minutes getting my barber friend Calvin to trim individual hairs because his cut wasn’t “perfect.” Meanwhile, other customers walked out, frustrated by the wait. That man’s pursuit of perfection cost Calvin actual revenue and taught me something profound about the perfection prison.
We’ve all been inmates there. You know the drill – endlessly tweaking that presentation, rewriting that email for the fifteenth time, or refusing to launch that project because it’s not quite ready. We analyse until we’re paralysed, terrified that releasing our work will timestamp our current ability rather than our future potential.
But here’s the truth: finished trumps perfect every single time.
James Cameron might have waited for technology to catch up to his vision for Avatar, but most of us aren’t directing groundbreaking films. We’re trying to get our businesses off the ground, our books published, or our ministries launched. And whilst we’re waiting for perfection, others are building momentum with “good enough.”
The writer of Proverbs understood this: “Where there is no prophetic vision, the people cast off restraint.” When we can’t see a clear finish line, we lose focus entirely. Define what “done” looks like for your project. Set boundaries. Know when to stop tweaking and start shipping.
Your imperfect action today beats perfect inaction indefinitely. The world needs your contribution now, not your perfection later.
GETTING IT DONE
Here are a few things you can do to make sure you don’t fall into the “perfection” trap.
1) Set a ‘Good Enough’ Deadline
Try “time-boxing” your task by allocating a specific, fixed amount of time to complete it. Give yourself a hard cut-off time and commit to wrapping it up—even if it’s not flawless. Constraints can fuel creativity by narrowing your focus and silencing your inner critic.
2) Break the Task Down—Then Start with the Easiest Part
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Chasing perfection can be overwhelming, and thus, to take a bite at a time, you can eat the elephant one bite at a time by deconstructing complexity.
Perfectionists often feel overwhelmed by the big picture. So take one small, doable step today. Perhaps it’s as simple as writing a title, outlining three bullet points, or setting up your environment. Consistency is key, and therefore, it’s those tiny wins that can create momentum.
3) Invite Accountability, Not Approval
Shift from trying to impress to being seen. You can share your work with someone trusted early in the process, not when it’s finished. This helps reframe feedback as collaboration rather than critique, and gets you out of your head. Collaboration opens up opportunities for relational accountability, which refines us in the process of not just the task at hand, but in the way we invite people into friendships that can help us to be held accountable wherever God leads us…
(image: Allef Vinicius)
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