Doing What You Like To Do - Part 2

When I wrote about "doing what you like to do" a couple of days ago, I hadn't envisioned a second part to that article.  A couple of things happened over the past couple of days which changed that.  Now these weren't great epiphanies -- they were more like pieces to a puzzle.  The more pieces you have, the clearer the picture becomes, and so on.

I went to the gym this morning -- nothing new there.  I joined this gym after the first of the year -- mind you, it had nothing to do with a New Year's resolution, it's a new gym and that's when it opened it doors.  I just need to lose weight, lower blood pressure, and trim some fat.  A typical mid-50's kinda thing.  I spend most of my time on the treadmill, usually 50 to 60 minutes including warm-up and cool-down.  What I like most about doing the treadmill routine is that I also get the chance to do some reading.  I've had an e-reader for about a year now, and I really enjoy using it, especially in situations where a bound book would just not be practical.  During this morning's workout, I continued reading Jon Acuff's book Quitter.  I consider it a good read . . . an easy read . . . and for my situation, a practical read.

Part of the reason I like his book so much is that he and I have similar passions.  I think we probably also have similar personalities.  According to Jon, his mother called him a "procrastinating perfectionist" -- I have to tell you, that resonates with me very, very clearly!  My parents were both perfectionists.  When you're a kid growing up in a "perfectionist's world", perfection becomes a part of your daily life.  By osmosis, I have perfectionist traits.  (Not as severe as Hercule Poirot, however, but yet . . .).  There's nothing wrong with wanting to do a good job, but sometimes it  becomes a stumbling block to success.  For instance, I was a little frustrated by getting a "complaint" about my blog article "Preparing for Flight".  I am an excellent writer!  How dare anyone slam my carefully crafted prose!  I ignored the comment, making some flip remark about doing better the next time.  To anyone else, it would appear that the issue was done.  Au contraire!  It was stuck in the back of my mind all day . . . in fact, I didn't write anything at all the following day.

Here is where my trip to the gym comes in.  One of the comments I came upon today in Mr. Acuff's book struck a real chord with me . . . "90 percent perfect and shared with the world always changes more lives than 100 percent perfect and stuck in your head"!  (Note: the exclamation  mark is outside of the quotation marks -- it's mine.)  Although it's important to produce good quality work, whether it's writing or giving a lecture or selling some product or whatever, being so concerned about being perfect is a trait that can prevent one from ever making a difference.  I also suppose that getting a critique once-in-a-while is a good thing -- having someone else "proofread" your work  can help by pointing out problems that you may not have caught on your own.

I know I've been hiding a few ideas in my head about how I want to proceed after I return from the Philippines.  I'm keeping them in my head until I actually go there and get some facts to backup the ideas.  After today's insight, I need to make sure that I avoid the perfectionist's trap and share my ideas with others, even if the project isn't quite the way I want it to be.  Better to get it in front of other people's eyes and listen to their comments than to wait until I have it perfectly crafted  . . . which may never happen.