Here’s the thing. I understand where “done is better than perfect” comes from. It’s the idea that if there were only two options in the world, one was endlessly procrastinating till something is perfect and one was just making sure it’s complete, the better option would be “do it” vs not do it. I want to start with that because the last time I said this, someone tried to explain what it means to me and like…it’s not rocket science, I just don’t agree.
All procrastinators are perfectionists. Being a perfectionist isn’t a positive attribute. It doesn’t automatically mean you’re more careful or more organised or have more taste than anyone else- it just means you’re obsessed with an idea of perfection that isn’t real and refuse to accept anything less than that standard. It’s good to want to do things well and it’s good to want to do things properly but that’s really different from being a perfectionist even though I think sometimes people use it to mean the same thing.
I think one of the failings of society is the obsession with easy success stories. “Wow, she just did a sketch on a napkin and now her paintings sell for 50 trillion kajillion poundollars”. Any story of success that’s simple is most likely a lie or not the whole truth- everything has some difficulty if you have to do it consistently.
And I’m not saying as a principle, “done is better than perfect” doesn’t have its moments, but I don’t think it’s worth holding on to it so you can motivate yourself to do a 10 minute workout instead of no workout- listen, sometimes, don’t do the workout- sometimes, miss a Monday. What you should be examining is your castle of perfection and why we are replacing something that isn’t desirable with something that’s another extreme. Just “done” mostly doesn’t work. Have you ever worked on a group project with people and then everyone “does” their work but then you have to re-do it?
Have you ever sent rubbish work out to meet a deadline that guess what? Was still rubbish?
I think we should normalise honesty with ourselves and self-praise so we have a healthier standard of behaviour to lean into and a more sustainable way to measure our work. This idea that “omg I really thought it was crap but that ended up being good” is so silly when you think about it. Why did you need to look at it through other people’s eyes to figure out if it was good or bad? It’s this lie that “done is better” relies on. It’s the idea that “done” is better than you think and you won’t know if you keep waiting for perfect. Or that if you keep adding up “tones”, you have no choice but to improve. Both of those ideas are fantasies.
Do things and do them well. Stop setting yourself up to do things that are impossible. Do your little bit very well, add on some more, do it very well and just stay consistent.
Perfection is a lie. Effort is where it’s at.
Stop aiming for just done and stop aiming to be perfect. Show up for yourself and set things that make you feel good about yourself because I promise you – a series of “dones” doesn’t add up to much in the big scheme of things.
If you’ve had success with just “done”, please comment!