perfectionism paralysis (also known as procrastination)

We’re back baby! And not to start with excuses, but since my last post, I have grown and given birth to a person. Which, as I will explain, has helped me get over my writer's block.

I came up with the idea for this blog quite a while before I finally set up the web domain and started writing that first post nearly a year ago. Getting over that initial hurdle of designing the page and writing my first post was an important one. But it did not guarantee I would maintain momentum. 

I had a clear concept for the structure of my posts and lots of topic ideas, but despite this, I stalled. I put the car in park and went for a walk instead. At first, I didn’t give it much thought, chalking it up to being tired in my first trimester, but as the weeks (and months) passed, it dawned on me. I was stalling for the same reason I had failed to get the blog started as soon as I had the idea in the first place. I was afraid it wouldn’t be worth reading. I was paralysed by perfectionism. 

You've probably have heard the expression "perfect is the enemy of good" and I’ve got to be honest, the first clue that I have perfectionist tendencies is that this saying has always made me a bit uncomfortable. There is a little voice in my head that asks "Maybe good is the enemy of perfect! Did you think of that? How will we ever achieve excellence if we accept mediocre?!" 

The fact that the original expression makes me uncomfortable, probably indicates it’s something I need to lean into. Once I worked out why I was procrastinating, I decided I should write a blog post about exactly that - procrastination due to perfectionism. Unfortunately, since this topic wasn’t on my original list of ideas, I doubled down and convinced myself I didn’t have anything of value to say about perfectionism and became paralysed once more. In reality the problem was I just hadn’t spent enough time being curious about my paralysis and figuring how to get moving again. 

Now that I’ve launched into a whole new role as a mother, I must admit, I have a greater appreciation for the imperfect. My journey into motherhood has certainly not been perfect, but it has been petty damn good. Other than having a baby, which is admittedly an extreme tactic, I’ve pulled together my top three tips for overcoming perfectionism paralysis. 

First, remember that any movement is positive when you’re inert.  Meet yourself where you are and figure out how to move forward with the resources you have. The first draft of this post was a stream of consciousness that I dictated to my phone’s note app while rocking my 11-week-old to sleep. How you start isn’t how you finish, so get moving down the path of least resistance and build that up to whatever transport metaphor floats your boat - a super highway, a bullet train, an electric bike. Just get yourself moving in some direction! 

Next, encourage yourself to be playful, creative and experiment in those initial phases of getting moving again. Pick your favourite brainstorming tool and go wild. Keep it simple and frame success around generating a variety of ideas rather than getting stuck into the details at this stage. I know the temptation to add some colour coding or theming, but this can bog you down and allow that perfectionism to creep back in and grind you to a halt. Try to withhold judgement of the ideas and just let them flow. Once you are looking over the full list, if you end up with some bad ideas, that's perfect (see what I did there?) as they will help you appreciate your good ideas. Once you're ready to move forward with a good idea, then you can start getting a bit more into the details.

Third, lean into the bit of the project that excites you and gives you energy even if it’s not the logical place to start. I knew this post was the first topic I wanted to publish as I got the blog back up and running, but I needed to draft a post on another topic, one I felt more confident in, to get myself moving. This has the double advantage that I already have my next post drafted, and I can leverage it to keep momentum.

Below is another quote that I draw on when I'm motivating myself to do those items on my to do list that I've been avoiding. So I'm curious, what good ideas are you sitting on and are you ready to get moving?