Many people strive to perfection in life and in the work they do and I have been one of them.
Whatever project I was working on I only delivered it when a perfect state was accomplished. The problem was that I was never satisfied with the results. Because when is something perfect? There was always new information to be embedded.
When I talk to coaching clients I notice that they often fight with the same struggle.
Their work needs to be perfect and they sometimes anticipate on questions they expect will be asked, but have not been asked yet. The deliverable becomes bigger than the assignment.
Perfection does not exist! At least that is what I learned over the past years. High quality does exist, but that is something different than perfection.
It is like a journey: perfection is always on the horizon. Whenever you come closer to the horizon new details will unfold. New details that will bring new challenges.
During my Camino to Santiago de Compostela I have seen this many times. Whenever you come closer to the horizon new elements come visible and new challenges appear.
The innocent looking hill just after Castrojeriz with a road going over it, suddenly appears to be an one kilometer 12% steep climb.
On top of the hill the horizon was completely different than I could have anticipated as it almost immediately went down in an 18% descent of 350 meter.
It is similar in our daily business and in life: new elements will appear and new information will become available as we get closer to our goal.
Striving for perfection will make the task bigger than anticipated (or even budgeted!) and will probably leave you dissatisfied.
Better to set clear goals, with high quality standards, and accomplish them one by one.
Just like I concurred that hill: step by step.
Have a great week!