It’s a balance. I procrastinate starting things because I think I can plan it to perfection first.

I think there has to be a balance, because we should strive to do our best, but at the same time, recognise that jumping in and getting started is half the battle.

I study successful people around me, and one of the scientists I’ve most admired was consistent at throwing himself into experiments and trying new things. He was phenomenal and usually happy and switched on.

Good luck… self-awareness is a great skill to have. We can always improve ;)

I also used to expect perfection from myself, I think it was imprinted in me from my upbringing. My parents never encouraged me to experiment and they didn’t explain that you can only get a good result after a lot of learning, trial and errors. Every time I start to learn new things I have to overcome this idea that the result has to be perfect at once. It has given me a lot of problems during the years, and many times I wouldn’t even start a new project because of fear of failing.

It was only a few years ago I learnt to think in a different way. I said to myself that I’d rather get something done than nothing at all, even if the result was not really what I had expected. I tried to remind myself that it is Ok to fail and try again, this is how many goals reach completion. I also had to remind myself of that the only way I could get what I wanted was to practise and work hard. Not many people has a fantastic talent and reach perfect results without hard work. Whatever I do I try to see it as a work in progress and keep reminding myself that if something doesn’t turn out good, I can always try a new approach, improve it in different ways etc.

This way of thinking has helped me a lot, but I am still dealing with the feeling that nothing I do is ever good enough. The difference between now and before is that I can cope better with the negative feelings and continue my work without giving up. I know that the feelings of self- doubt come and go and there will be moments when I am able to appreciate what I do too. I also try to take things less seriously, a sense of humour is a good weapon in the fight against perfectionism : )

I am glad that also you seem to have found ways to evercome too high expectations of yourself. After all we are here to learn and to enjoy the journey, not to be boring perfectionists : ) Good luck to you in the future, and dont let anything prevent you from creating the life that you want!

You might appreciate the Cult of Done Manifesto. Now that I’ve read it I always think about it when I get caught in that perfectionism cycle.

http://www.brepettis.com/blog/2009/3/3/the-cult-of-done-manifesto.html

The Cult of Done Manifesto

1. There are three states of being. Not knowing, action and completion.
 2. Accept that everything is a draft. It helps to get it done.
 3. There is no editing stage.
 4. Pretending you know what you're doing is almost the same as knowing what you are doing, so just accept that you know what you're doing even if you don't and do it.
 5. Banish procrastination. If you wait more than a week to get an idea done, abandon it.
 6. The point of being done is not to finish but to get other things done.
 7. Once you're done you can throw it away.
 8. Laugh at perfection. It's boring and keeps you from being done.
 9. People without dirty hands are wrong. Doing something makes you right.
10. Failure counts as done. So do mistakes.
11. Destruction is a variant of done.
12. If you have an idea and publish it on the internet, that counts as a ghost of done.
13. Done is the engine of more.

and probably a common problem…. at least I know I have it…. I can’t be perfect, but I do try…. practice, practice, practice…. then still beat myself up when I’ve done something less than perfect.