Key Messages
How To Overcome Perfectionism And Make Progress On Your Goals
It can be frustrating and demotivating when you find yourself in a slump where you just can’t seem to get anything done.
You’re stuck, like a car in a ditch, and nothing moves forward.
But the truth is that what’s holding you back isn’t laziness or incompetence – it’s perfectionism.
In this section, we will look at perfectionism, how it keeps us from reaching our goals, and how we can break through these mental roadblocks to finally get things done.
We will also discuss why perfectionism should be compared to the cuckoo bird, how using fear in an odd way can make certain tasks more fun, and why it’s sometimes good to be bad at something.
By learning all of these techniques, you’ll be able to push through your mental roadblocks and finish those projects that have been hanging over your head for so long.
Getting them done will bring you one step closer to achieving your dreams!
The Dangers Of Perfectionism: How To Achieve Excellence In The Face Of Imperfection
When it comes to completing a project, perfectionism is often the overarching roadblock.
We find something that isn’t quite perfect and give up, rather than push through and finish what we started.
Jon Acuff, the author of “Finish: Give Yourself the Gift of Done” knows this all too well.
He’d experience great success with an ambitious new exercise regime, but once he hit an imperfection and his streak was “ruined”, he threw in the towel.
Acuff’s mentality is a dangerous one; no one should expect their work to be perfect or that everything will go their way in life.
In fact, those who accept that imperfections are normal and understand that these roadblocks are when real work begins are the ones who succeed.
The day after something goes wrong is when you need to take charge and push forward with your goals no matter what happened beforehand.
It doesn’t matter if you skipped working out that day or binged on Krispy Kreme doughnuts – it’s about how you proceed afterwards that counts.
The day-after-imperfection is when you need to accept life will be messy sometimes and move on with your objectives despite any mishaps along the way.
So remember: while nothing in life is perfect, the real work begins after the first sign of imperfection!
Achieve Your Goals By Cutting Them In Half
When it comes to achieving success, we often shoot for the stars and end up pushing ourselves too hard.
This can be seen in Jon Acuff’s attempt to become a field goal kicker despite being out of shape and inexperienced – a dream that was never going to come true.
This phenomenon is referred to as planning fallacy, wherein we overestimate how long it will take us to complete a task.
As psychologists Kahneman and Tversky found out, even students grossly underestimated the amount of time that their thesis paper would take them to write.
So if you find yourself setting goals that are too lofty or ambitious, then I suggest cutting them in half!
Studies have shown that doing so increases your performance by an average of 63 percent, and we feel more motivated because our goals suddenly seem more achievable.
The author’s “30 Days of Hustle” program has this exact idea with day nine devoted entirely to reducing our objectives – a strategy which has had tremendous success among participants.
In conclusion, it’s important to avoid planning fallacy by not setting overly ambitious targets for ourselves.
Cut down on your goal by half and you’ll greatly increase your chances of fulfilling them!
Strategic Incompetence: Achieving Big Goals By Letting Some Things Go
We often put too much pressure on ourselves to be great at everything – but the truth is that it’s beneficial to be bad at some things.
Author Jon Acuff understood this when looking at his overgrown, weed-filled front yard; instead of trying to make it perfect, he accepted that it wasn’t going to happen and freed up his time for what was important: being a good dad.
This idea of “strategic incompetence” allows us to recognize that we can’t take care of every single task and chore, so admiting our limitation and allowing themselfes to be bad at some things is actually beneficial for productivity.
Jon restructured his daily inbox answers down from 100% of emails to just 10%, giving him space to finish his book.
Sometimes, simplifying chores like doing laundry is also helpful; Lisa, a goal-oriented mom, gets by with wrinkly clothes since there just isn’t enough time for ironing and folding.
With modern techonology you have plenty of options that can help simplify further – apps and online services can take care of small tasks like shopping and banking.
Enjoying Your Work Is Key To Achieving Goals
When it comes to achieving one’s goals, many people overlook one important factor: enjoyment.
When you really enjoy what you’re doing, you’re more likely to reach your objectives.
This was something that the author discovered during his “30 Days of Hustle” program—when participants pursued goals that were enjoyable for them, their performance shot up by an impressive 31%!
As he states in his book, having fun can equal success.
If one is aiming to lose weight, for instance, turning it into a reward-based challenge can make things more enjoyable.
Setting short-term goals and rewarding yourself with every milestone reached—such as going out on Saturday night or watching a movie—can add an extra bit of excitement to the process.
Even deadlines can become a source of motivation if used correctly.
So, why not turn regular work into something more enjoyable? After all, if you’re having more fun while working towards your goal, then chances are that you’ll get even more done!
Question Your Perfectionist Motives To Achieve Success Without Going Crazy
If you struggle to keep up with perfectionist rules, you’re not alone.
Whether we’re aware of it or not, each of us may have our own set of perfectionist rules that can make it hard to complete projects.
But if we stop and question these rules, we can identify them and find out what our true motivations are.
Take the example of a woman the author was speaking to who had difficulty conforming to her goal weight.
She thought this number was what she needed to achieve success, but once she asked herself “What do I really want?”, she realised that hitting a certain number on the scale wasn’t actually her primary motivation; instead, her desire was to stay healthy and prevent illnesses.
Once she had identified this as her underlying motivation, she could finally put the focus away from perfectionism and make meaningful progress in reaching her goal.
Identifying your own perfectionist rules and finding your true motivations is vital in order to overcome the lies that come along with perfectionism–particularly how attainable it is when following certain rules–and get better results from the projects you work on.
The deceptive tricks of a cuckoo bird may be unique amongst animals, but it’s something we all grapple with too: don’t let it trick you too!
Overcoming Perfectionism To Finally Cross The Finish Line
When it comes to completing a project you’ve worked hard on, it’s easy to get tripped up by your perfectionist tendencies at the last minute.
Fear can start to creep in, causing you to think about all the negative “what-ifs” before the work is done – like criticism or no one buying it.
The biggest pitfall involving this kind of fear is giving into it and not finishing what you started.
Stephen King said best: “People are extremely hard to live with when they have a talent they aren’t able to use.”
Instead of letting fear take control, push forward and be honest with yourself about why you’re dragging your feet.
Maybe you feel like people won’t appreciate your work or they’d expect too much out of you – try and reassess those perceptions so that you can give yourself that final push to finish what you’ve started.
Wrap Up
The key takeaway of this book is that anyone can achieve success by learning to accept imperfect progress and ceasing to compare themselves with unrealistic standards of perfection.
Progress does not have to be perfect in order for it to be worthwhile and appreciated.
To help you put this idea into practice, the book provides some actionable advice: Celebrate your progress using specific data points rather than relying solely on gut feeling.
This could include tracking how much money you’ve made in a given period, or how many pounds you’ve lost over a certain amount of time.
Having concrete evidence will help combat any negative thoughts and feelings of doubt that perfectionism may cause.
In conclusion, this book helps us recognize that we can still feel proud of our accomplishments even if our progress isn’t perfect.
Perfectionism should not keep us from achieving what we want out of life, but instead motivates us to strive for excellence while also enjoying the journey along the way!
