Artists who seek perfection in everything are those who cannot attain it in anything.

— Gustave Flaubert

RESILIENCE

WHAT THIS MEANS

Perfection demanded everywhere is a way of never finishing anything. Attention spread across every detail leaves none of them deep, and the standard quietly becomes a reason to keep the work from being seen. Underneath it is usually fear rather than high standards, since an unfinished thing cannot be judged. Quality tends to come from choosing a few things to care about intensely and letting the rest be adequate.

Pick one part of what you are working on and decide that is the part which has to be good. Let the rest be merely fine, and finish it. One completed imperfect thing teaches more than another month of polishing.

A QUESTION TO SIT WITH

Where has chasing perfect kept you from finishing anything?

MORE IN DISCIPLINE, WORK & STANDARDS

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