Some of us are perfectionists

Some of us are perfectionists. We want to get our ducks in a row-a tidy, evenly spaced, aesthetically pleasing row-before we set to waddling anywhere. It can be tempting to think that because insights are to visions as ingredients are to recipes, we need to have the whole vision put together and perfectly arranged before we get down to living. Sorry to say, that simply can't be done. Life is too expansive and messy to build a perfect, all-encompassing, impeccably coherent vi-sion that we can then just put into practice, like building a Lego sa from the instructions. It's no good waiting until we have every thing figured out before we get down to living because all that time spent waiting and figuring things out is already time spent living. We're living all the time.

— from Takeoff Into Chaos · Life Worth Living: a Guide to What Mattesr Most by Miroslav Volf, Matthew Croasmun, and Ry

In the book

There is a quieter, more respectable version of the same error, and it belongs to the perfectionist. We want every duck in a tidy, evenly spaced, aesthetically pleasing row before we will waddle anywhere. But the row never comes, and the waiting costs more than we think — past a point, more time, more memory, and more data do not sharpen the judgment, they dull it. — Takeoff Into Chaos

We are wired to overweight what we might lose: losses loom far larger in the mind than equivalent gains, and that loss-aversion quietly talks us out of the very risks a real destination requires. The perfectionist's version is to insist on getting every duck in a tidy row before taking off — but the row never comes, and the waiting is itself a decision. Meanwhile the clock runs. — The Flight Plan (Purpose/Wisdom/Risk)

Also belongs to

Related