Waiting to be Perfect is Holding you Back
Waiting to be Perfect is Holding you Back
Where are all the recovering perfectionists at?
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Think of something in your life that you feel 80% ready for, but you’ve been waiting for 100%. Ask yourself, could I actually start this now?
My partner and I love camping.
We are both very experienced campers, and we are used to things going our way. We always find a campsite we love, We make quick decisions that work out, and we typically have everything we need.
Last weekend we decided to go on our first camping trip of the season. Admittedly, it started on a really weird note. As we got up early and got ready to go, my partner admitted,
“I can’t find our tent or our stove. They must be buried somewhere at my parent’s place.”
I sighed, but just wanting to go with the flow we decided together that we would wait until we had all of our best gear and go next weekend instead. He felt really bad. He can be realllllly hard on himself when he makes a mistake. I told him it was OK, we would just wait. It’s not life or death, not a big deal. But a few minutes later, I asked him,
“Do you want to go anyway?”
I was desperate to go outside. We ended up going anyway and using the smaller backpacking tent and stove that I had stored at home.
And off we went.
After driving down a logging road for three hours, we passed by a couple of nice camp spots but decided we wanted to go to our favourite one even further. As we gained elevation the ground started to get snowy, and we realized the spot we wanted would be impossible to get to. We drove back and forth for another hour, trying to find the perfect spot. I felt the impatience bubbling up inside me, and I almost broke down in the car, desperately just wanting to get outside.
We compromised and chose a spot, not perfect but good enough by the road. We settled in, roasted some weenies on a fire, and decided to look for a good skinny dipping spot. We hiked for a while but couldn’t find anything safe enough away from the rapids, or deep enough to plunge into. We turned around, defeated, and decided to dip in a great spot by other people with our underwear on as we had forgotten to bring bathing suits.
First-world problems, I know. But as perfectionists, this combination of events really threw us. As experienced campers, we were used to things going 100% perfect. But what we reflected on during our walk to the swimming spot is that sometimes the pursuit of perfection stops us from accepting the good enough option that we already have in front of us. We passed by multiple campsites that were 80% perfect in pursuit of the one that was 100%. Instead of spending less time in the car, and at an amazing campsite, we kept putting off our day outside in pursuit of the possibility of perfection.
Perfection can be a distraction.
It can stop us from seeing the perfectly acceptable option of a path that we already have right in front of us. It can keep us procrastinating taking meaningful action forward. Often, the option that’s 80% there would bring us just as much satisfaction as the perfect one we’re chasing after.
Think of something in your life that you feel 80% ready for, but you’ve been waiting for 100%. Ask yourself, could I actually start this now? Is it possible I have everything I need to not do it perfectly but do it pretty damn well? Is it possible I’m already ready to show up as authentically me even though I’m not 100% where I think I should be?
Maybe there was a perfectly viable path in front of you all along. Maybe 80% of the way there should be the indicator to take the step forward, rather than 100%.