“A man person would do nothing if s/he waited until s/he could do it so well that no one couldfind fault.”
- John Henry Newman
(the edits to make this apply to everyone are mine)
Many thanks to Brandie Kajino for this awesome quote on perfectionism. This is something I have made great strides in overcoming. Writing this blog has helped me tremendously with it as I have dared to post things that I've only reviewed a couple times before posting live. It hurts deep in my stomach every time I go back to an old post or look at the Free e-book I posted and see a typo. But I put it out there anyway and just keep fixing things as I see them or when I have time. I still fear that putting out writing with typos might hurt my reputation for doing high quality work but I also keep telling myself this: If I wait till I get it perfect, I'll never get it done. Better to err and help people who don't care if there are typos in it, than to be perfect and never help anyone.
RELATED POSTS
10 Myths about Managing Your Time
How to Avoid Perfectionism without Becoming Careless or Sloppy From the Goals to Action blog by Roger Constandse
You are most welcome - I'm so glad you like that quote! :)
Perfectionism - the ugly beast that feeds procrastination and progress. I hear ya sister, and let's keep beating it simply by moving forward, no matter how imperfect it may be!
Posted by: Brandie Kajino | July 18, 2007 at 05:23 PM
Just thought I'd drop by to let you know I tagged you today on my blog! Maybe you could share 8 ways you've found that work to overcome perfectionism-I know it's tricky to find one good way for me!:-) Don't feel obligated to actually do it-just hoped to direct some of my readers here because I enjoy the tips you share:-)
Posted by: Kara Sheridan | July 19, 2007 at 01:47 AM
Let's see if this works, Ariane. I finally changed the links on my blog back to yours and I listened to your awesome audio message! You sound great!
ANd how weird is this? I resisted perfectionism in today's post, then I come over here and see you talking about exactly that. I love when things like this happen.
Have a nice day :)
Posted by: Marcia, Organising queen | July 19, 2007 at 07:43 AM
Found your blog through Kara - very glad I did. Like this quote a lot and as for blogging - resisting perfectionism - yes ! Getting the message out - that's what's important.
Posted by: Ruth | July 19, 2007 at 10:29 AM
Oh, so guilty - guilty as charged!
But, in my striving to be organized I think I'm aggravating my perfectionism! How to be organized without needing it to be perfect?
Posted by: Chelo | July 20, 2007 at 09:33 PM
Thanks for all your great comments! I totally, while I was sick I stayed off the computer as much as possible...forgive me the delay in responding.
@Brandie - I hear ya! Progress is what I live for!
@Kara - I'm so honored you stopped by and even tagged me! I checked out your amazing blog...and all I can say is you are amazing inspiration. You will do more from your wheelchair to make the world a better place than most do that are in great health. Rock on sistah! : ) I'll see if I can come with 8 ways to get over perfectionism...but I can't promise when - I'm trying to catch up from being sick the last couple weeks!
@Marcia - So glad you can comment on Typepad blogs now! That was so weird! Thanks for changing the links on your blog...and for beign the first to notice my podcast. It's SO NOT perfect and I haven't announced it because believe it or not - I want to do it over again!!! LOL It is wild how we organizing bloggers seem to post on similar topics at the same time.
@Ruth - Thanks for stopping by and saying Hi! I love hearing from new readers and discovering their blogs too. Your posts and poetry on life with a disability are truly inspiring and informative.
@Chelo - It is soooo easy to get caught up in trying to be perfectly organized. I try to use time as my guide...as in asking myself - Is it really worth spending this much time to take this to the next level? or Will this take me more time to organize than the time it will save me? That's how I end up using a lot of simple boxes that I just put everything in. For example, I don't fold my underwear, socks, etc. I just have dividers and keep them seperate. It takes 2 seconds to grab a pair and much longer to fold them. So I don't! : ) I'll have to write more on this topic too!
Posted by: Ariane Benefit | July 22, 2007 at 07:16 PM