Confession: I’m a recovering perfectionist. I still wrestle with ‘getting it right’ versus ‘getting it done’, constantly having to pull myself back from doing too much, trying too hard, and being too ‘perfect’. The antidote to perfectionism, (a.k.a ‘crazy high standards’) is to lower your (impossible) standards and just ‘get it done’. But for a perfectionist, therein lies the rub. What does ‘done’ look like? “If I can't tell what’s ‘too good’, how can I tell what’s ‘good enough’?”

As a perfectionist, I have always struggled with standards. Without a clear benchmark for how much time, energy or effort I should be spending on an activity, the impossible standard of being ‘perfect’ looms long and large in front of me. So how does a perfectionist create a benchmark for a 'normal' acceptable standard or high standard? 

Early on in my career I was sent on a government-accredited course. I was doing a project for a client that would only work with suppliers that had a certain formal certification, and so my boss sent me to get ‘qualified’. He and I both knew that I had many years of experience in this area, and was operating at a high level already, but the client needed ‘proof’, so off I went to get my piece of paper. Easy peasy… or so I thought.

It turned out that I had two weeks to complete an eight-week course if I was to qualify for the cut off, and get my certification before our work was due. Ordinarily this would not be a problem, but I was struggling with the course work. Not because the content was difficult, but because the questions were poorly written, ambiguous, and sometimes not even relevant. 

I struggled. I stressed. I panicked. The perfectionist in me wanted to get it right, but honestly, I was struggling to even get it done.

Then, out of the blue one question changed the game completely. “What score is needed to pass?” (Read: What is the real effort required to succeed?). I was so busy trying to get it ‘perfect’ that I didn't stop to ask what would get it ‘done’. I realised that the course assessment was binary – not graded. You were either Competent or Not Competent. You only needed 51% in order to be marked as Competent. Why then was I busting my gut to get ALL the answers right when I could aim for getting HALF of them right and achieve the same result – Competent. I already knew I could do the required work easily, and the client only needed to see the certificate. Brilliant! 

This was a pivotal moment in my career. I finally understood how to operationalise the saying, ‘Done is better than perfect.’ If this is something you tend to struggle with like me, my question to you is ‘what does ‘done’ look like?’ What’s the actual level of effort required to complete this task satisfactorily?  

Making the decision to never ever take on another task without establishing the clear ‘done’ baseline will save you time, effort and a little piece of your sanity. 

So what have you learnt about the difference between ‘done’ and ‘perfect’? I’d love to hear your tips.