Iโm not a perfectionist in the traditional sense.
Iโve published dozens of blog posts that contain typos. Iโll leave the house knowing thereโs a tiny coffee stain on my shirt and pretend it happened in transit. Iโll happily cobble together a meal from a wilting green pepper and some freezer-burned corn and then yell about how Iโm pretty much Julia Child.
I mean, I wrote a blog post entitled โIt Doesnโt Have To Be Perfect, It Just Has To Be Something.โ
But Iโll also spend weeks โ or months! โ polishing and editing and fussing over an ebook thatโs already 99% amazing. Iโll wander into the kitchen at 10 pm โjust to wipe down the countersโ โฆ and then itโs 45 minutes later and Iโm defrosting the freezer. Iโll spend so long tweaking a client proposal that I almost miss the deadline.
Of course, truly getting over perfectionism is the work of a lifetime and probably lots of therapy. But while youโre doing that deeper work, here are two surprisingly effective tips that have helped me get out of my own way and get on with my totally-not-perfect-but-still-awesome life!
2 perfectionist tips that will free up your time, brain, and energy
Set a โgood enoughโ timer
Are you working on a task that doesnโt have a due date, defined finish line, and โ if weโre being honest โ isnโt wildly important?
Iโm talking about stuff like
- Clearing out your closet
- Updating your photo albums or scrapbooks
- Detailing the car
- Researching and purchasing the worldโs most perfect pots and pans (<- real thing Iโve devoted a surprising amount of time to recently)
If tasks like these flip your perfectionist switch and culminate with you using a toothbrush on your baseboards at 2 am, do yourself a favor:
If youโre prone to perfectionism, set a โgood enoughโ timer. If you donโt know when youโve reached โgood enough,โ at least your phone will. Share on X
Think about how long you can reasonably expect yourself to work on this task without wearing yourself down to a grumpy, sulky nub. Reduce that number by 25%.
Set your timer, work on your task, and when the timer dings, youโre done. Youโve officially reached the โgood enoughโ point. Congrats!
Now go make yourself a cup of tea and read a magazine or something.
Set time-based goals rather than completion-based goals
We humans are shockingly bad at estimating how long things will take.
For years, when Iโd make my daily to-do list, Iโd write things like โfinish client proposalโ or โupdate old blog posts.โ Then Iโd sit down to finish that client proposal only to emerge five hours later, frazzled, exhausted, patently not-finished, and disappointed with myself. Fun!
And I did this all over my life! โFinish landscaping front yard,โ โPlan Staceyโs birthday party,โ and โFigure out SEPโ were all items on my to-do list I mistakenly believed I could hammer out in 30-60 minutes.
Reader, I could not, in fact, landscape my front yard in 30 minutes.
Instead, I started to break my unrealistic, self-defeating to-do lists into time-based segments. When I had a huge, time-consuming goal, Iโd break it into small, doable steps and give myself a set amount of time to work on each step.
โSpend 30 minutes researching lodging + activities for upcoming Denver trip.โ
โRake leaves for 45 minutes.โ
โWork on new ebook for one hour.โ
Do I always complete the task in the allotted time? I do not. But I kept my commitment to myself and did what I set out to do. Keeping your promises to yourself is a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it gets.
Many of the tasks Iโm working on would take up an afternoon or entire days if I let them. Iโd overwork, burn myself out, give up, and feel like I failed.
But when I set time-based goals rather than completion-based goals, Iโm setting myself up for success. I can check that item off my to-do list and go to bed knowing I did what I said I was going to do.
I want to hear from you! Do you identify as a perfectionist? How does perfectionism show up in your life? If youโve gotten past it, share your tips in the comments so we can learn from you!
P.S. If youโre looking to break your perfectionist habits, this can help. And itโs free!
Cosigned SO HARD. This is honestly how I get myself to tackle huge piles of dishes. โJust set a timer for 15 minutes and get as much done as you can.โ More often than not, all I need is 15 minutes, but Iโd put it off because Iโd convince myself Iโd need, like, an hour, and the activation energy to tackle an โhourโsโ worth of dishes was too much! Iโm using this to clean my apartment in preparation for my aunt and uncleโs visit this weekend. One hour and done.
Yes to โonlyโ cleaning for an hour!
HA! Sarah, I was just reading about type One on the Enneagram (The Perfectionist), and I thought, โEnough of this. Letโs go see whatโs new over at Yes and Yes.โ
My desire for perfection manifests as procrastination and flat-out refusing to start anything I might not be good at. Your tips will help me to try things and to tackle big projects more effectively.
Ha! Thatโs so funny! I havenโt taken the Enneagram but from what Iโve heard, Iโm pretty sure Iโm a 1 :/
Having a good-enough mindset is so important โ and still something Iโm trying to follow myself, as a type A perfectionist!
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
I did #2 for writing my book! Rather than setting word count or chapter goals, Iโd plan 3 hours of writing, or one hour of editing, or whatever fit in my day, and then work with as much focus as I could during that time. It worked great, kept me on track, and minimized the frustrating โI want to go to bed and Iโm struggling to write this scene but I havenโt hit my word count for the dayโ moments. And long as I reached my time goal, I knew I was still getting the work done!
Hi! Iโm new to your blog and just ADORE your advice! Brilliant and relatable direction, thank you! I canโt wait to read more ๐ Siรขn x