Ready to do your best work? Ditch perfection.

And now that you don’t have to be perfect, you can be good. – John Steinbeck

I posted this Steinbeck quote a while back and a lot of recovering perfectionists (present company included) quickly entered the chat. It seemed a chord had been struck so I decided to explore a little more.
So many people have a love/hate relationship with perfection. It’s held as the standard because society tells us it should be, even though it’s unattainable. This is – if you need it – permission to relax, give up the chase, and pursue good instead. And here are three good reasons why you should.

Perfection snuffs creativity.
When my son was very small, he loved doing art projects. He would proudly bring his adorably wonky creations to me and I would exclaim, “I love it! It’s perfect!” Then one day he showed me his newest masterpiece. With worry in his big blue eyes he nervously asked me, “Is it perfect?”
Gulp. My intention was to praise his work but instead my words told him being flawless should be the end game.
Pressure to perform rarely brings out the best in us, does it? Stop worrying about the heavy expectations of others and let your ideas proudly roam, warts and all. There’s time to polish them up and make them so good they shine. But you have to be brave enough to give them some fresh air first.

Perfection is subjective.
Ask ten people to describe their perfect day and you’ll get ten different responses. Perfect looks different to everyone so nailing down one definition of it is kind of an impossible task. Let it go and go for good instead. If you’re creating something for yourself, work on it until you’re happy and don’t worry about everyone else’s measuring stick. Doing work for someone else? Keep their version of good in mind and work toward that. I say “toward” because this kind of work is almost always a process.
I send in-progress content and ideas to clients fully expecting that edits will get sent back. If I handed over what I considered “perfect” work, those edits would feel a little devastating. Perfection doesn’t hold space for others at the table; not even the ones who should be there. But collaboration is crucial because it’s what makes the good work really good.

Perfection is a moving target.
Pursuing perfection is a project that never ends. It can’t be measured so it doesn’t have a finish line. There is always some way you can tweak whatever you’re working on to make it “just a little better”. This is the ideal breeding ground for procrastination, exhaustion, and anxiety. That doesn’t sound like any fun so let’s not even invite perfection to the party. Instead, we’ll create our own benchmarks and end points. They’ll be based in reality and they’ll give us the freedom to do our very best work…which will be more than enough. Deal?

Steinbeck was no slouch so when he advocated for being good over perfect, I don’t think he meant it as a hall pass to half-ass whatever work you’re doing. Instead, I think he intended for us to see the difference between good and perfect, and to realize how freeing it is to pursue the really good instead of the impossible. As it turns out, you can make yourself proud without making yourself crazy.