Aiming for Perfection
“Perfect is the enemy of good.”
Aiming for perfection can surely paralyze. So much of what I write focuses on the journey more so than a destination, as it helps us find action among many other benefits including care, playfulness, and much more.
But what about those times that something needs to be good? Like really good?
When performing music, for instance, a single mistake can completely disrupt its flow, shattering the emotional tableau. With a business report of high stakes, a single error may have devastating consequences.
How could this possibly align with the Visit-based approach I espouse, in which you can show up to a thing and do absolutely nothing should you so choose?
A Visit-based approach is not only about the moments of a visit itself. It also involves regularity, a daily return visit, the recurrent act now building momentum. Between visits, a mind churns, coming up with ideas that are ready for when we are next there. Each visit brings a mind fresh with both energy and ideas.
Early on, visits are broad-stroked as we immerse ourselves in the emotions involved. Here’s an example of me learning Scott Joplin’s Maple Leaf Rag back in March:
As the days go, matters begin to take shape, branches grow. Ideas may fade, break, and wither, but often become mulch and fertilizer for next versions. As visits continue, structures solidify as facts are checked, skills are honed as muscle is worked through, and foundations reveal themselves as they bear the work with greater ease.
But how do we measure good enough? How do we know we’ll be good at that performance?
Once again, I draw from the well of my piano teacher’s wisdom. She used a method of threes.
In readying for a performance, she would practice a particular piece three times every day. She would mark each one on a grid, as to whether she played it without error.
When she could play that piece 3 times daily without error for several days in a row, by perhaps even a week, she knew it was as solid as it could get. If she made a mistake at the performance, she could rest on the sense that she did as much as she could.
Arbitrary is it might be, she drew a line of achievement, allowing her to rest beyond.
Starting with this approach would crush a practice from the get-go. But with a visit-based approach, preferably begun well ahead of a performance or deadline, we can work up to a three-time daily practice. Like a bicycle, we can start on one gear and shift to another whenever we feel ready.
Further, by starting early with visits, preferably on the day it is assigned even, we can encourage mistakes and all the lessons they have to offer.
– Kourosh
PS. Here’s me playing the Maple Leaf Rag 7 months later…
Productivity is many things. For some, it is about doing a lot in a little time.
But, truly, productivity is so much more. It is about:
- Setting yourself up for success.
- Being focused where you want to be.
- Doing things that you find meaningful.
- Being creative, sometimes even in harsh environments.
- Forging your own paths.
- Finding your voice and delivering it well.
- Knowing and actively deciding on your obligations.
- Knowing where and how to say “no”.
- Avoiding procrastination.
Too often, many of us fall into just going along with and fighting whatever the world throws at us. “Go with the flow!”, we say. Meanwhile, we might think, “I’d like to do that one thing. Maybe one day I will.” The days go by. The goal never arrives, and then we wonder why or blame circumstance.
But when we learn to take charge of our lives and the world
around us, we start living life with intention.
Of course, striking out may seem scary. It takes courage to live life with purpose and on purpose. Roadblocks and worries, fears and concerns show up everywhere.
This is my passion. I want to help you to find that sense of your own unique play to meet the world so that you can:
- Create a life that is yours.
- Find and follow an inner guide in a way that works for you and those you care for.
- Decide on your obligations and meet them while building the world you want.
Aiming for Perfection
What do you aim for when you look for perfection?
“I can’t do what helps me”
What do we do when the help and tools around us themselves remind us of a feeling of inability?
Aiming for Perfection
What do you aim for when you look for perfection?
- Creating Flow with OmniFocus
- Taking Smart Notes with DEVONthink
- Workflow Mastery
- PDF on beating deadlines with ease using the Touching the Keys Technique
These products use or are based on Getting Things Done® or GTD® Principles. They are not affiliated with, approved or endorsed by David Allen or the David Allen Company, which is the creator of the Getting Things Done® system for personal productivity. GTD® and Getting Things Done® are registered trademarks of the David Allen Company For more information on the David Allen Company’s products the user may visit their website at www.davidco.com.