The Power of Good Enough

Here is the thing about perfectionism. It is not really about wanting to do great work. It is about being terrified of failing. When you demand perfection you set a bar that nobody can reach and then you beat yourself up for not reaching it. The fix is something called satisficing. An economist came up with it. It basically means picking something that meets your standards and calling it good enough instead of obsessing over the absolute best possible outcome. Try this today. Pick one task and give yourself a strict time limit. When the timer goes off stop. Notice that what you produced was totally fine and probably just as good as it would have been if you spent three more hours on it.