Fear in fancy shoes.

Perfectionism is nothing but fear in fancy shoes.

It stops us from shipping, from putting ourselves on the hook, from doing what needs to be done. It makes us feel that we are doing that not out of fear but rather out of care. Because we want everything to be "perfect" before it gets out there.

But it's never perfect and it never goes out. Perfectionism, sooner or later, leads to procrastination, missing deadlines and eventually guilt and shame.

It doesn't make our work better, it makes it worse. It affects our reputation both in the eyes of the people who are relying on us and, more importantly, in our own. When we start seeing ourselves as someone who doesn't ship on time, we become reluctant to pick up ambitious and courageous work.

The way out of perfectionism is "good enough" or as Seth says, "good, enough!". But to get to "good enough", we need to start with a bad version. Once we see our work as taking the project from bad to good enough, we gain agency. We get away from trying to get it from nothing to perfect.

HT to Liz Gilbert for the inspiration for the title from her book, Big Magic, and to Seth Godin, always.