Ever hear of “Analysis Paralysis” as it relates to Time Management? I certainly have experienced it myself – sending an email or report just in the nick of time because I ruminated over it until the last minute.
Perfectionism is an obsession to work something to the end, to do one more thing, to verdo, to over function, to overperform when it’s really not necessary — when it’s not adding any additional value. If that last 20% of effort truly won’t deliver a full 20% more value, then it’s not worth it and you can grab back that time and put it toward a higher priority task.
In order to avoid perfection, we need to define ahead of time what’s good enough so that we don’t get caught up in perfection. We set those criteria so we can ask ourselves, “Have we reached good enough? Did we accomplish what we set out to do?” There are going to be a few errors but that’s okay. Take some time to learn the different strategies to help you to manage perfectionism so you can let go of it and find that as long as you did your best, at this point in time, if you know when you’re at 80%, it’s good enough.
I am not saying we shouldn’t strive for excellence. What I am saying is sometimes, when we prioritize all that has to get done whether at work or at home, doing ‘B’ work is going to be acceptable on some tasks in order to do ‘A’ work on a Top Priority. Perfectionism that gets in the way is an obstacle to reaching that Top Priority game-changer done well.
Remember, overworking something that isn’t adding more value is a waste of your time…and we all need to grab as much Time back as we can these days!
Based on a Podcast by Penny Zenker | Aug 21, 2018 | Take Back Time Podcast
Bonnie Black is the EAP Director of Employee Assistance Services at
Behavioral Health Services North.