Focus On Progress Not Perfection.

PROGRESS NoT PERFECTION.

By temperament, I am a melancholic. I am a perfectionist both by nature and by nurture. And I have for the most part of my few years on earth been given that space to run my life as such. Over the years, I have come to realize that not only is my being a perfectionist my greatest strength but it is also my greatest weakness.

By being my greatest strength, I mean I almost always try my best to do every task assigned to me to the best of my ability and ensure it is done in the most excellent or perfect way possible. And by being my weakness, I mean I almost always have to finish every task assigned to me barely before the deadlines or a few hours or days after the deadlines. 

That is to say, in order to get the best or present a 'supposed' perfect work, I often work slowly or delay doing the task until the very last minute only to do what I could have done with ease under so much pressure. And trust me, it has always not been a good feeling when I am in that state.

Typically, I exhibit that tendency because I am always thinking of the best way to do a perfect work. A lot of thinking goes into what I do most of the time. Those who know me at the personal level would confirm that I speak softly and slowly because I tend to ponder on what to say before I do. I analyze things/questions a lot before I react or act on them. And mostly some erroneously perceive me to be some sort of a snobbish person. Quite unfortunate though.

If you have followed my write-ups closely you would also probably have noticed that I choose my words carefully too. Often, I pick my topics long before writing them. I ponder over them for the better part of my day/week before actually writing them. And that could be seen in every word I write or use in my articles, quotes or poetivations. I choose my words consciously and cautiously. But what actually happens is that, I do a lot of thinking and not the actual writing until the very morning I have to post the write-up. 

Pondering over my life and my way of doing things during the latter part of last year, I resolved to look at progression instead of perfection. I realized that I could do more if I had to cut out some time off my pondering sprees and invest that into the actual work. Or better still do so concurrently.

I noticed from my reflection that, I am often plagued by paralysis of analysis. I don't get to do much most of the time because I use so much time thinking and analyzing and not actually doing what I am supposed to do in order to progress as fast as I ought to over a given time. And so I decided to look at progression whilst hoping to draw near perfection. I resolved to rather focus on improving each day instead of thinking so much about being perfect and ending up not doing much for myself. 

And what has been the results? Amazing! I have seen myself now writing everyday and getting better in the process. I am working on my academic thesis, ghostwriting for a client, preparing speeches for my talks whilst making time to post here everyday. Yes! And I am doing all at the same time. I am growing by day and progressing towards perfection. Hitherto, I would wait to perfect my thoughts before writing but not any more. I changed my ways and the results have changed. I now get more written over time and still inch towards perfection each day.

Like me, some people are always thinking and waiting for the perfect time to do the perfect things. And as they wait, they end up not making any visible progress. They would wait and analyze till the details scare them from even starting or making any progress. Why not rather focus on improvement and progress whilst working towards perfection? Would you rather use all the time at your disposal thinking and not actually doing?

Don't let the bug of 'paralysis of analysis' bite you. Do the thinking but launch out and do the doing as well. Don't wait and retrogress instead of making progress in the name of perfection. Decide to be a work in visible progress and perfection will be possible to attain. Ensure progress and perfection and will come along!

LiveInspired!