Progress Not Perfection
A practical guide written in 30 minutes
Progress not perfection is a phrase that I’ve heard so many times. It becomes abundantly clear that I need to follow this cliché when I’m dealing with analysis paralysis. Progress not perfection is especially helpful when writing. The challenging part with advice like this is to be able to internalize it.
It is the write now, edit later concept. You can’t write a story while editing at the same time. Sometimes to make any sort of progress you need to just keep moving. Removing the blocks of perfection. Personal development is a challenging field to be in because nobody has all of the answers and the questions people have really span the gambit.
We can’t learn anything without action. Time to think is important. Not everything has to be done right now but we can’t let ourselves analyze forever. Eventually, it makes sense to put some stuff out there and see if it resonates. Even if that means it’s not perfect.
I’ll speak personally for a second. I try to write a blog article every week. I want my blog articles to be deeply thoughtful so they resonate with people. Every week I have this intention of getting words on to a document and then adding more each day. The idea for me is to create articles of sustenance. I don’t want to simply put out fluffy material for the sake of creation. And that is exactly where I go wrong at times because I’m holding on to an idea of perfection.
The creation process restarts every week. I start a brand-new word press document with zero words on it and try to expand on ideas I had. The goal to be to help other people solve problems.
If you don’t know what to say just start moving and see what comes out.
Where I go wrong in my process, often, is the freezing on what I want to say. If someone were to ask me what progress not perfection meant in a conversation. I wouldn’t be able to edit what I would say. I’d just say it. I have an idea of what I mean so I just talk it out.
Even if I can’t perfectly articulate I am still able to produce something. Words. These words become part of a conversation. Other parts of my brain then wake up. Concepts connect. The articulation gets better and the idea becomes more fleshed out as I go.
That’s what progress not perfection means. It means allowing yourself to go fast sometimes. It’s being ok with not having concepts fully flushed out. Talking, writing, creating, going forward. Building shit on top of shit until it’s less shitty. Does that make sense?
Now that I’m getting some speed with my ideas, I try to think about making it practical. As in, I don’t want to just rant for the purposes of creating content. I want my ideas to be helpful to other induvial so they come back. I like the idea of having a blog to share, but also want to help. Sure, I doubt if I can help at times. I think they call it imposter syndrome.
Where I do give myself, credit is that I keep trying. Eventually, through practice, my problem-solving skills get better. I spend more time with an idea so it gets better. Time and attention make a difference. This article is really you and I spending time together figuring out how we can make more progress.
3 ways to make progress not perfection stick
- Go into action mode- That is going forward. Keep going forward. Building layers and keep going. Each pass will become stronger. Imagine that progress, not perfection means rolling a ball down a hill. At first, it’s slow, but it quickly picks up speed. Don’t correct the course as you go. Let it go wild. See how fast it can go. Go crazy and eventually you will find a flow. Progress is happening. There is no need to be perfect. Perfection is impossible anyway.
- Don’t edit — This is especially hard with writing. Actually, it’s hard with any type of work that you put out there. You want it to be flushed before you present it because your reputation is on the line. Your action items may be needed to move your career. While you can’t put crappy creations out into the world if you are expecting a certain level of quality, you can start with crappy drafts then move forward.
- Work fast — To avoid editing work fast. Work a bit recklessly. Take out separate time to fix and comb-over. Or just keep creating and creating until an idea is refined to a level that is great. That’s what I’m doing with this article today. I’m writing and writing and writing. As I go, I hope that the words I say are stronger. They make more sense. Consistently is built. I will edit. But I will do that later.
What happens if you get stuck?
It is ok to get stuck. It is a normal part of the process. We aren’t machines, we are human. Our bodies know what to do. The question to ask if we are trying to internalize this concept is, are we really stuck or are we just trying to be perfect?
If we are truly ok with progress over perfection than that means anything forward will do. It could be just doing something, anything that provides progress. No need for perfection.
Don’t stay stuck. You can only get stuck if you are quality checking as you go. There are a yin and yang to this concept. While we can’t always be in a rapid creation mode. We can set time aside to get the ideas we need out.
Once the ideas are out, we have clay to work with. The initial idea release is like pouring out clay. We then take the time to sculpt those initial concepts into a masterpiece. But the more we can spit out in the rapid action phase the more we can work with. That is the more we allow ourselves to just create without editing, the more clay we have to sculpt and mold. Never perfection. Progress. Getting better with each pass. The alternative is to be so careful with everything that we don’t give ourselves enough material to work with.
Practical progress over perfection.
I wrote this article in 20 minutes. Previously, before I started putting words on this document, I was attempting to define career success metrics. I got very analytical with that article that I was writing. The progress was slow. I was uninspired and spent an hour and a half not making much progress. Constantly questioning myself. I kept editing. The sentences weren’t coming out perfect.
The sentences I wrote here definitely are not perfect here either, but I’ll tell you this. The progress I’ve made here feels a lot better than having a half-written document sitting on my desktop. To me this is something. I can improve upon this. At the very least today, I was able to freely share an idea. There was less thinking and more doing. After I’m done, I can go back and become very thoughtful about what I wrote. I have material to work with, to mold, and to eventually make better.
For now, though, I’m going to leave this a bit raw. The progress, not perfection concept is tricky. There are questions that I still have. How do we balance quality with speed? Is it really progress if it doesn’t get better? The irony in these questions is that they wouldn’t exist if progress hasn’t been made. If I had instead started this document and waiting until it was perfect, I would have never gotten to this point.
I really do help this is helpful to you. With personal development, I don’t think any one person has all of the answers but many have insights. Take what works. Listen to the people who give you inspiration and keep a connection. Find your teachers. Thanks for taking the time to read.
More on this concept from me? Try Paralysis by Analysis or A Slave to Productivity
Someone else’s content that I enjoyed on this topic: Big Sky Rise’s “Getting Productive, being happy: Progres, not Perfection.