Why I Think Perfectionism is Overrated & Should Be Put on the Back Burner
I have a confession to make: I'm not obsessing over my blog posts anymore. You know what? I'm not perfect. Sometimes I make mistakes. Sometimes my fingers hit the wrong key and I don't catch it before my post goes out to the world. Sometimes I accidentally misspell a word.
But the thing is, if I continue to obsess about my writing work before I get it out there, I will go crazy.
Perfectionism is overrated. When we obsess about getting it right, we miss out on the opportunity to work on something else that will help move our businesses forward. It doesn't matter if you are a business owner selling a product or a service or if you are a freelance writer. At some point, you just have to say, "Okay, I've given this a thorough look through and now I'm ready to send it out to the world."
Blog posts don't have to be perfect. Social media updates don't have to be perfect. Did a grammatical error get through that you didn't intend? So what.
Does it matter that I'm an editor? I am meticulous when it comes to editing my clients' work. If there is an error, I'm bound and determined to catch it.
But what about my own work? I should be catching mistakes, right? I mean, that's what I do. But you know what? It's harder to catch our own mistakes. It's no different for editors, unless we pull our hair out trying to avoid them when writing our own stuff. That's what I've been doing and it's been driving me crazy. Instead of 30 seconds to write and send an email, it takes me 10 minutes. That's insane.
Don't get me wrong. There is value in taking the time to make sure the writing is correct. But there needs to be a limit. There needs to be that point where we decide that we've given it our best and we're ready to move on.
When writing a blog post, get the rough draft done. Then give yourself 30 minutes to edit it. Once that is done, get it set up and be done with it. Move on to the next thing on your list.
Remember that perfectionism is overrated when you're writing. It will help you keep moving forward to the finish line.
Do you struggle with perfectionism? You are certainly not alone. I encourage you to make small steps to letting it go and focusing on things that are really important to you. What can you focus on today?
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