How perfect is too perfect?

Below is an excerpt of a post from Jon Acuff (author of Stuff Christians Like)'s blog. He talks about perfectionism and how it robs the world of many a great idea. It was inspired by the weeks and weeks he spent agonising about what his first blog post should be like. You should check out the whole post if you can, it's very easy to relate to and encouraging to anyone (which is most of us) who has been in such a predicament before.

90% perfect and published always changes more lives than 100% perfect and stuck in your head.

The things you create and actually share will always out perform the things that stay stuck in your head or your desk or your laptop. You might love the ideas you have inside you. You might be blown away by how awesome they are, but if you don’t share them, it doesn’t matter.

The business that is open will always wildly outsell the business that is closed.

If your goal is to change the world, you have to share your work in whatever shape or form that might take. And sometimes that means getting comfortable with A -work.

So when you face the perfectionism, and you will, ask yourself one question:

“Do I want to change the world?”

If the answer is yes, then you have to hit “publish” on a blog post, take the stage for a speech, sell your crafts online or do whatever your dream is. And you’ll have to know sometimes that means getting an A minus, not an A plus.

That’s not an excuse to half do your work. I worked hard on this post and edited it like crazy. I want you to be excellent at passion, not just passionate. But chances are, if you’re reading a blog about chasing your dream, doing things half way is not your biggest struggle. The solution to doing something half-heartedly is not difficult. Just do it better. Work harder. Try again. Perfectionism is a lot trickier and we need more tips to beat it than we usually think.