{"id":1474,"date":"2018-11-06T21:08:57","date_gmt":"2018-11-06T21:08:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bloomsoup.com\/?p=1474"},"modified":"2021-09-19T17:02:50","modified_gmt":"2021-09-19T17:02:50","slug":"pitfalls-of-perfectionism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bloomsoup.com\/pitfalls-of-perfectionism\/","title":{"rendered":"The Pitfalls of Perfectionism"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Perfectionism, the nemesis of progress.<\/p>\n<p>It stops you in your tracks.<\/p>\n<p>Why even bother starting, if your reality won&#8217;t live up to an idealised, albeit fictional, version?<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s face it&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>All too often your best-laid plans are left to rust, a\u00a0graveyard of good ideas and lofty ideals.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>The Perfectionism Problem<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The uncomfortable truth is that nothing you do will ever be perfect.<\/p>\n<p>Even a project you&#8217;re happy with now will leave you crippled with embarrassment upon future reflection.<\/p>\n<p>Much like your fashion sense when you were young; cool then, but ultimately betrayed by time.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s why many creatives can&#8217;t stand to revisit their work, however celebrated.<\/p>\n<p>The reason we&#8217;re locked in the jaws of perfectionism now is because of the pristine vision our minds hold for the future.<\/p>\n<p>The grand plan you&#8217;ve formulated in all its colourful minutia adds excessive pressure, denying you the very room to start.<\/p>\n<p>Instead of focusing on the small, momentary actions that comprise the greater vision, you&#8217;re overwhelmed by self-imposed expectation.<\/p>\n<p>You dare not start.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>The Enemy of Progress<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The reassuring fact? You&#8217;re not alone. Some of the greatest minds in history have faced the same mental hurdles.<\/p>\n<p>But where others have cowered, they&#8217;ve embraced their imperfection and ploughed on.<\/p>\n<p>Take Van Gogh&#8217;s earlier works, which were far from perfect.<\/p>\n<p>Despite early failures, it was his systematic approach that defined him in his craft.<\/p>\n<p>Through practice and repetition, he whittled the building blocks that would later support his most celebrated work.<\/p>\n<p>Countless examples embody this principle.<\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s Seinfeld&#8217;s strategy of writing a joke every day; A technique to build a habit and also punch perfection in the face.<\/p>\n<p>Then there&#8217;s Woody Allen&#8217;s belief that simply making enough films would turn up a few gems.<\/p>\n<p>You can evaluate your options forever, but unless you take action, it comes to nought.<\/p>\n<p>Only one thing counts, and that&#8217;s glorious, messy progress.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Start Before You&#8217;re Ready<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>It&#8217;s tempting to think you can plot a straight line to success if only you plan thoroughly enough.<\/p>\n<p>But it&#8217;s impossible; there are so many unforeseen eventualities that render the best plans void.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s only when you&#8217;ve started that you can iterate and progress.<\/p>\n<p>You might be so worried about contaminating the seeds of your perfect ideas that you never nurture them, a paradoxical self-sabotage.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, reconcile yourself with the fact that your first efforts in any endeavour will be clumsy.<\/p>\n<p>All you can do is plant your seeds and see what grows.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Perfectionism, the nemesis of progress.<\/p>\n<p>It stops you in your tracks.<\/p>\n<p>Why even bother starting, if your reality won&#8217;t live up to an idealised, albeit fictional, version?<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s face it&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>All too often your best-laid plans are left to rust, a\u00a0graveyard of good ideas and lofty ideals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1483,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Pitfalls of Perfectionism | Bloomsoup<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Perfectionism, the nemesis of progress. 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