Maybe this happened to you too.
The task you have started and you haven’t finished.
and leave incomplete.
Do you know, what is
the reason behind this?
The reason is “Perfectionism”.
Somewhere inside you
have a desire to be perfect.
and it should be.
but it should be not of “Perfectionism”,
it should be something other.
That I will tell you
later in this blog.
We want that our work
should be perfect.
By that, we can become
unique to others.
But sometimes, being unique is a far-fetched
thing, we even don’t complete our work.
And leaving incomplete
work like this,
you can never produce
legendary work.
Today people are comparing their
2-3 days of work with whom,
who are working on that task
for many years continuously.
When the 2-3 days working result does not
seem perfect with experts’ many years of working results.
Get demotivated and leave
it by saying that it is not for me.
Before moving forward,
I want to tell you that,
Perfectionism is not a bad thing.
According to scientists,
Perfectionists are of two types.
Adaptive Perfectionist,
and Maladaptive Perfectionist.
Adaptive Perfectionists get
motivated by its high-standard.
They keep their quality time and focus on
their work without getting hyper-critical.
While maladaptive perfectionists
chase unrealistic standards.
They procrastinate because they
aren’t able to their unrealistic standard.
By that, anxiety and depression
increase inside them.
And they leave if their work
doesn’t seem to be perfect.
So today I will tell you
some points from
Jon Acuff’s book “Finish,
Give Yourself The Gift of Done”.
That I found very helpful
to overcome Perfectionism.
Jon Acuff taught in this
book is very practical.
You can apply it immediately.
And what I’ll tell you,
is not an imaginary thing.
By doing experiments
on many people,
and by converting their
result in actionable guide,
this book has been written.
So let’s know some actionable principles to overcome
the procrastination that comes from perfectionism.
- Choose What to Bomb.
In today’s world, only a to-do
list is not enough for our work.
So to produce outstanding work,
we should also know,
what not to do.
Today we try to achieve
many goals at once.
That I will read books, do exercise, and for
a bright future, I will also think of new ideas.
It is not a bad thing.
But by implementing
many things at once,
chances to fail many things is more.
If you try to achieve reading, exercise,
business improvement, and your diet.
then on the first day,
it will complete easily.
But after 2-3 weeks,
if you fail in one thing only once.
Then you will leave other
things by thinking it is a failure.
So it is better to achieve
one goal at a time.
That first let me improve my diet,
then I will install reading
and exercise habits.
When you are working on your diet.
Then in your things to bomb list,
those names should be written which
is distracting you to install this habit.
You can achieve any goal when
you give your valuable resource.
and that is “Time”.
And we should admit this thing that,
if we are giving our time to one thing
then that time we have
taken from something else.
So If you are a master in one thing,
and average or below the
average in other things then
don’t worry.
because you have given your time
to mastery by taking from average activity.
- Make It Fun If You Want It Done.
Most people think of fun as a
waste of time during achieving a goal.
they think what is the need
to take interest in work.
but it is wrong thinking.
According to Jon Acuff, mainly two
important factors in achieving the goal.
One is Satisfaction, which means
what you feel during that process.
and second is Performance Success.
means what you will get at the end.
Jon Acuff’s team researched and knew that
Those who enjoy the process of achieving goals,
their Performance Success increases by 46%.
To enjoy your process,
you can follow mainly two ways,
One is “Reward Motivation”,
and the other is “Fear Motivation”.
If I give the best example.
There are two fat boys.
One is losing weight to
get a good girlfriend.
and second is losing
weight for future illness.
So here one boy is losing
weight by Reward Motivation.
and second is by Fear Motivation.
So you have to choose which motivation
will take you to your destination fast.
John Acuff was motivated by
the fact that during public speaking,
people don’t make fun of
him more than clapping.
So he prepares his speech and
presentation by using Fear Motivation.
And he enjoys much in
the whole process.
- Leave Your Hiding Places
and Ignore Noble Obstacles.
Perfectionist people are intelligent.
So their excuses are also intelligent.
The author tells it, Hiding
Places and Noble Obstacles.
Hiding Places means the
work you can do perfectly.
But there is no relation
with your current goal.
If I tell by example.
I can learn something from
any movie and T.V serials.
But it won’t help me in
making book summaries.
So, instead of writing book
summaries by reading a book,
find positive things
by watching movies,
and give the intelligent excuses
and don’t do my work,
that I’m learning something new,
then that intelligent excuses
are hiding places for me.
That is stopping me to
create powerful content.
So, to avoid these hiding places,
we should ask one question to ourselves.
Can I reach my goal easily by
doing this thing continuously?
If the answer is Yes, then keep going,
if not, then stop doing.
Second is Noble Obstacles
that we all have faced.
But we don’t realise that
it is a Nobel Obstacle.
Noble Obstacles mean some arguments
that don’t allow you to start the work.
I’m not going to start jogging
until I get Nike running shoes.
I will make YouTube videos
after buying a new camera and mic.
I will start the business after making perfect products,
miss statements, vision statements, and logos.
So these new shoes, camera & mic,
and logos are all novel obstacles.
That you don’t know but
it is stopping to start the work.
and you ignore that novel obstacle
by saying that You are Perfectionist.
So, we should eliminate novel obstacles
and hiding places as much as possible.
and by the way, everything
is not perfect.
Because the thing which is perfect
then no improvement will be done.
because it is perfect.
The perfect surface will also
look dirty in the microscope.
Yes, one thing remembered
by word Perfectionism.
Apple’s iPhone and MacBook
are also not perfect.
because if it would be perfect then what is
the need of making new model every year.
Jon Acuff told in his book that,
“Done is better than Perfect”.
Chase Progress, not Perfectionism.
Because Progress means trial and error
method can make you world-class.
Wright brothers had also chosen
progress instead of perfectionism.
Instead of getting perfectionism in his
plane like toilet, AC, kitchen, and glossary look.
They thought about how to
fly plane in the air for a long time.
and made the first version of the plane.
and slowly they made
improvements in that.
I want that, something
new work you want to start,
just start it and slowly update
its version like an android.
Then people will tell you perfect.
Anything you want to be like artist, businessman,
singer, dancer, musician, innovator etc.
Just publish your first
version of your work.
No matter how bad it is,
because the things that
exist in the world can only improve.
The work you don’t seem
to people that can’t be improved.
If I tell the whole blog
by summarizing,
- Make your Not-to-do list,
and write all things that distract you. - Enjoy your work Progress.
then chances to get success
will increase many times.
- Find your hiding places and novel obstacles
means your Intelligent Excuses, and avoid those all.
And Instead of running for Perfectionism
just try to be your best version.
And by publishing the first version
of your work, do update it slowly.
Because there are some people in this
world, who like to see your world-class work.
So these points I have told you from Jon Acuff’s book
“Finish, Give Yourself The Gift of Done”.
That people found very helpful
to overcome Perfectionism.
The link is given in the description.
Thank You.