The Perfectionist Demon – Finding Good Enough

It’s approaching burning season in the Flint Hills of Kansas and elsewhere on the Great Plains, a time when gigantic prairie fires consume thousands of square miles. The fires are set intentionally, when conditions are perfect to allow controlled burning, usually at night.

It’s a beautiful sight, if you can find a safe promontory from which to watch. Large swaths of flames washing across the plains, consuming everything in their path. Destructive, yet essential for the future of that sea of grass to survive and thrive.

There’s a lot in life that can be like the prairie fire. Things that consume wantonly, or cause great pain, but if controlled, can be a crucible from which new life springs.

Perfectionism for example. Some folks look at the tendency and see great value. We see the results in the genius of folks like Steve Jobs or Beethoven. Their perfectionism was a crucible through which lasting value and joy was born. But within that crucible were flames that consumed them and the people around them.

Was it worth it? Beethoven lived long ago, so we see only his genius and what it produced, and we’re grateful. We’re glad he was afflicted as he was. Steve Jobs, if recent accounts are to be believed, may be less universally appreciated. Perhaps there are people still around who were burned by the flames of that crucible, and they might see more than the results of genius – they may have been part of the painful process of arriving there.

What about the many other folks “afflicted” with tendencies of perfectionism? Those of us who’re not likely to ever produce a 9th Symphony or a Macintosh. Or if we do, we’re unlikely to persevere the maze of rejection that will allow our work to be appreciated. For folks like that, perfectionism is an anchor that prevents us from moving forward with planning, with ideas, with creative work. It’s a demon that drags us into the mire of doubt.

I’m planning my next bicycle adventure right now, and find it easy to fall prey to that demon. It’s easy to wonder if the route is just right, or if the time of year is perfect. It’s easy to delay decisions while I gather more information. But forward movement requires making decisions based on the information available. If I’m committed to making the trip happen, I need to set the time aside, start getting into a high enough level of fitness, and commit to a plan.

I know my process, and I know I’ll find that place where the planning is “good enough”. How many people out there can’t find that merciful place of “good enough”? For every Beethoven or Jobs, how many hundreds or thousands or more are scorched by the relentless and unforgiving flames of perfectionism?

If you’re one of them, keep the vaccine handy to ward off the flames. The vaccine? Those two important words – “good enough”.

Author: Neil Hanson

Neil administers this site and manages content. View all posts by Neil Hanson