Not a perfectionist?

Not a perfectionist, just going for high standards. High standards are important. Need to keep working on this thing, tweaking it, making it 'better'.

This article in Yahoo Finance identifies four signs of perfectionism:

1. ‘Not good enough, yet’

2. There’s no end in sight to a project or task

3. Keep tweaking and tinkering

4. Working late or long hours Is this you or someone you know?

Read more via the article...

It's not binary

I’ve posted recently on productivity, quality and getting out of your own way.

My new book ’ish - The problem with our pursuit for perfection and the life changing practice of good enough’ is out now.

A fear I’ve heard is: if we 'ish' anything it will mean the ‘crapification’ of everything. People will care less, do less and not bother about anything anymore.

But woah there, wait a moment; ish isn't that binary, on/off, black/white. 'ish' means somewhat, approximately and it's not for every situation.

'To ish or not to ish’ is one of the book's chapters. Some things are suitable to be good enough or 'ish', others not.

You see, perfectionism is a problem, a growing global addiction causing depression, anxiety, overthinking, burnout, insomnia and other health issues. It’s worth finding ways to tackle our unhealthy pursuit for perfect that shows up in our daily thinking, behaviours, tasks, activities and projects.

Join me as we find new ways to think and work that don't require our pursuit for perfection but rather help us go for things that are fit for purpose.

Keep it moving through the team

Playing well on a team means not slowing things down unnecessarily or holding things up. To collaborate, contribute, do our bit or add our expertise to a piece of work, is a fundamental part of work.

It's rare we work in total isolation - unless in our own business - even then, we might have a team member, suppliers and ... customers.

Do you know how your working style impacts the 'flow' of work through the team? Are you searching for 'more' or to make something you're working on 'better' before it's 'done' or handed on to others?

Perfectionism and the pursuit of 'right' isn't just an individual thing; it has a huge flow on effect for the wider team and beyond through the organisation, to customers and clients.

This article talks about the impact of perfectionism on the team.

Have you been slowed down in a team where someone might be going for perfect?

Love to hear your thoughts. 

Tinkering kills productivity

Tinkering. It's one of the top productivity killers in the workplace today.

You know how it goes ... you've got a presentation, report, something to get 'done'. And you start it. But then when do you stop? When is it 'done'? Hour after hour. Possibly day after day. For some important reports and presentations it even becomes week after week. (month after month anyone?)

Tinker tinker tinker. We fiddle, adjust, move the shape a little to the left, a little to the right, change the font, change the size, change a word here and there. Change things back again. Re-read, change, edit, fix and fiddle.

This is tinkering with information and communication. And it's a massive time waster.

In our efforts to make something 'better' we often spend - or waste - an inordinate amount of time on the things that are less important. Our perception of what constitutes 'value' is skewed; skewed and distorted by our desire to make things look good, impressive, clever, perfect. After all, it reflects on us - doesn't it?

Do you tinker? How do you know when something is 'good enough' to go?

Hey, didn’t you write and release that book last year, Lynne?

Hey, didn’t you write and release that book last year, Lynne? I’ve mentioned recently that my book ‘ish: The Problem with our Pursuit for Perfection and the Life-Changing Practice of Good Enough’ is out!

People have asked, 'But didn’t you release it last year? What’s with it being out now? Again?'

The book is about perfectionism and the increasing problem it presents in the world today. One of the ways we can tackle perfectionism I think, is to work in:

- increments (smaller packets or chunks of work, rather than trying to work on the w-h-o-l-e of a project) and,

- iterations (improving on things over time, as we release new or updated versions). This works well for reports, presentations, websites, blogs … yes, and books.

I released a couple of iterations of the book last year and got feedback and insights from people who’d read it. They let me know what they thought. Now I’m up to the 5th iteration.

Each version improving on the previous one. And it’s time to stop; it’s done. We can always, always work some more on our projects and make them better. But work in increments and iterations and you’ll get feedback to make things good enough to go 'live'.

Look again. What's good enough to go live?