When trying to get something finished, perfectionism can be a deadly foe. Sometimes, things do need to be perfect, but for the vast majority of cases, there is an acceptable trade off between time spent and quality.
For instance if you are crafting a website, or blog post – does it need to be perfect, or is there a point in time when you can let it go, put it up there for the world to see?
Admittedly you could use this as an excuse for sloppy, ill-conceived ideas and poor writing. To be honest though, if you are a perfectionist, you are not likely to come across this problem. Rather the reverse.
You could tell yourself that you will go back to it later and improve it but, for most people I suspect that will never happen. However, it will take it off your plate for the time being at least, freeing you to move on to other things.
Will the world be a worse place because your idea hasn’t been realised in the exact way you imagined? Will you contribute your ideas to the world, or will they be hidden away in a folder and destroyed when you leave this world because no one else has the same passion for them that you do?
If your ideas are that good you must share them, don’t let them be lost by insisting on perfection in the execution before you unleash them on the world.
Feedback is an essential part of many activities. For instance, when driving a car you rely on visual feedback from the road ahead to ensure that you are driving in the correct direction, that you are maintaining a safe speed and so forth.
Likewise you rely on feedback when communicating with other people. Subtle changes of facial expressions and body language indicate when you might want to change your approach.
Building feedback into your life is relatively straightforward and there are many ways you can do this.
You could ask for feedback from other people, you could look at stats from your website, or gauge the reaction of people using surveys.
I would suggest that the best form of feedback is from individuals, preferably from those who care enough to give it. Someone who seeks you out is likely to either point out the flaws in your work, or point out what you are doing well.
You can use the former to improve, and the latter to confirm what is going well.
