Done is better than good

I’m the biggest perfectionist you will probably every meet. And although perfectionisme isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it got me in quite some trouble with myself. For example: At school I was someone who wasn’t happy with a ‘good’ grade, I always wanted the highest grade. When I make or do something I don’t want it to be good, or to be a 6. I want it to be perfect, a 10+. For years I thought that this was a good thing. I was driven and gave everything to accomplish something. Until I came to a point that it become too much. I was asking too much from myself and my body. My head was always in high performance mode. My perfectionism gave me so much anxiety. Fear for failure and fear for not doing it good enough. The result? A few years ago I struggled with panic attacks for quite some time. In that time I read a lot about this subject, to make me understand myself. There is one quote from a book that I will always remember, and that’s the quote ”Done is better than good”.

This quote really kept me thinking. I was always someone who’d rather quit than deliver something that wasn’t good enough (from my perspective). This means that I had a lot of cool ideas, but when I didn’t liked the outcome enough I quitted them. I mean, when you create something there is ALWAYS something to improve. Even when you think you’re close to ‘perfect’, there is always something that could have been better. There is so much unfinished work because of perfectionism. And that’s just a shame. If I didn’t work on my perfectionism, If I didn’t work on my perfectionism, I probably wouldn’t kept going with Anouk Today. And I’m glad I did. Because it gives me joy and happiness. And I love working on it. And yes, it scares me sometimes because of my perfectionism. But that makes it also the best learning project ever.

So, if you’re a perfectionist just like me, than I dare you to finish something every day, every week. Because done is better than good. Just try it for some time and see how it makes you feel. Show your work to others and see if they notice the ‘defects’ and ‘imperfections’ you see. Because they probably won’t.
A little tip: if you start with a new project, give yourself a deadline and a maximum amount of time that you can work on it (for example 2 hours a day). Be strict for yourself and stick to it! It will get better in time!

Are you a perfectionist?