I often attempt to carry out tasks \u2018perfectly\u2019: making a cup of coffee, the elocution of a phrase in a foreign language, selecting a new laptop (or pretty much any new purchase) or writing an email. I also strive to be an Olympic gold medalist in productivity – where I strike off to-do list items in record time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The only problem is that perfectionism and productivity compete with one another in the course of anything I do. I realise that most of the time \u2018high quality\u2019 is indistinguishable from \u2018perfect\u2019. But, the idea of \u2018imperfect\u2019 is unappealing because I associate it with some degree of carelessness. And if what I do makes me what I am, then carelessness would mean that I don\u2019t care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perfection, of course, is always unattainable, unless you are taking a maths test or a multiple choice exam. In the arts, if something is regarded as a masterpiece, it does not mean that it is perfect, instead it is regarded as having been made with great skill. Any masterpiece can always move further in the direction of \u2018perfect\u2019 – but would anyone notice?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The pursuit of perfection in the real world is deficient because of the vast amount of time it consumes – often at the expense of something more worthy. On the other hand, getting something done to a high standard and improving upon it the next time can provide a happy marriage between productivity and progressive improvement. Leonardo da Vinci produced a number of masterpieces – but he was only able to achieve them as a result of the learning he gained from countless deficient works that didn\u2019t end up in a museum – such as the time when he first picked up a crayon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As for this blog post, if in a month’s time I realise I can improve it by changing a few things, I am free to do so. And this blog post, as my first, will be nowhere near as good as my 100th or 1,000th. The idea of being able to refine something or to try again is liberating because it means I can move onto the next thing – which I will do right now! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I often attempt to carry out tasks \u2018perfectly\u2019: making a cup of coffee, the elocution of a phrase in a foreign language, selecting a new laptop (or pretty much any new purchase) or writing an email. I also strive to be an Olympic gold medalist in productivity – where I strike off to-do list items […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[6,7],"class_list":["post-90","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ideas","tag-perfection","tag-productivity","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t