ISH: The Problem with our Pursuit for Perfection and the Life-Changing Practice of Good Enough’

It’s natural to want to do well - at work, in study, in life, to do our best But what happens when striving for the best becomes more; the pursuit of perfection?

Perfectionism is on the rise and has dire consequences for how we think and feel about ourselves and others, how we think, live, and work. It's causes over-thinking, over-working, burnout, sleeplessness and mental health issues like depression and anxiety.

We can’t keep going like this!

But what’s the alternative? In 2019 I released ‘ISH: The Problem with our Pursuit for Perfection and the Life-Changing Practice of Good Enough’. It uncovers how to think, work and achieve in clever ways adapted from the worlds of software development, and improvisation. How do they get things done? What can we learn from them?

In ‘ISH’, I explain:

🔅The problem with chasing perfection and why we seek it

🔅The mental loop that traps us into thinking perfection is the answer

🔅The idea of ‘ISH’ which means somewhat, near enough

🔅9 ways to think and work that provide a healthy and productive alternative to perfectionism.

Excellence, quality and continuous improvement are important. But the pursuit of perfection … not so much.

Q: Do you 'ish'?

Working in uncertainty

A phrase often heard in the startup world and a mantra of entrepreneurs striving to make forward progress is 'start before you’re ready'. It’s a motto that can apply to many of us.

OK not surgeons or pilots!

Yet we can spend (waste?) a lot of time waiting for the ‘right’ time, or waiting until we ‘feel right’ or for the right path to appear.

If we keep waiting for the most perfect and ideal conditions or we do all that ‘busy work’ that isn’t about launching or shipping or changing something, then we will be waiting... forever.

Things may not ever be 100% finished or ready; we'll have to start, launch, print, send, go before we feel ready ... or are ready.

Most things aren't certain when you're working in uncertainty.

 Q: Why do you think we can be fearful to start before we're ready? Leave a comment below sharing your thoughts.

When is enough ... enough

This week I've posted on 4 things:

How much INFORMATION is enough

How much THINKING is enough

How much WORK is enough

How many REVISIONS are enough.

Enough. It means 'adequate, sufficient, ample'. Our research, thinking, working and revisions can be either a productivity winner ... or a productivity killer. When we spend more than enough time researching, more than enough time thinking, and then overworking and reworking, we need to pause, stop, and understand:

- what we are doing, and

- why we are doing it.

It's too easy to get swept up or drawn down into the activities of our daily work and life ... and it's a key reason why our productivity takes a hit. A huge part of self-leadership is knowing how much is enough. And then when it's enough, we need to press the button, go live, launch or release the thing.

Take care of yourself and others by not wasting unnecessary time, energy and worry on tasks and activities that aren't needed. Enough. It could be the most effective productivity tool you've got.

Q: What's good enough to go live on in your world right now?

Working and overworking - How much work is enough?

'Burnout is an occupational phenomenon,' said the World Health Organisation this year.

Yet here we are working harder, longer and under more pressure, stress and expectations than ever. The sweat of prolonged activity; you feel it at the gym. And then the gym session finishes, it’s recovery time.

But when does work let up? How much more effort, hours and days will you put into this thing, this project, presentation, report or ... you know, the *thing*!? A deadline is a due date. It doesn’t mean 'work 24/7' until the due date. But we get drawn in, believing more work effort will lead to a better result.

It doesn’t.

Avgoustaki and Frankort's University of London Research showed the implications of work effort can lead to higher stress, less satisfaction and recognition, fewer opportunities, less security.

What? This 'work' actually seems to work in reverse? Want a productivity gain? You need a clock, a timer, a calendar to see that you’ve worked too long on this.

We are all overworking on something. Check what you've done so far; is it good enough? Get another opinion or two. 

There’s thinking and there’s overthinking

How much thinking is enough?

I'm reading a book by an author who’s a marketing ninja guru genius and they keep letting the reader know how much thinking they do. The author's stories are about the times when they were:

- thinking about possible scenarios

- thinking about the numbers

- thinking about solutions

- thinking about ideas

- thinking about the questions clients and colleagues might ask

- thinking about what other people might be thinking.

When we do this thinking, the problem is we are mostly OVER-THINKING. We are such wasteful thinkers.

We disguise thinking as:

Wondering

Imagining

Conjuring

Reasoning

Analysing

Rationalising

Reflecting

Contemplating

Deciding

Judging

Assessing

Evaluating … and

Mentally rehearsing.

We mentally rehearse scenarios trying to ‘prepare’ or ‘be ready’ for what lies ahead. We default to overthinking believing it's a useful way to solve a problem.

But calling an end to overthinking could be way better for us.

Move in to action sooner; to get real evidence and results - not imagined.

Q: What do you often overthink?