Stephen Guise

Perfectionists are driven mad or frozen in place by the chasm between desire and reality, which impairs their ability to progress and enjoy life.

The fear of failure is not something we want to show to the world, but it can still drive our actions.

The premise of imperfectionism—and this is key—is that having lower standards does not equate to getting worse results. A common, false assumption is that aiming for perfection gets you closer to it. The opposite is true: Embracing imperfection will bring you closer to perfection than a perfectionist mindset will.

The primary benefits of becoming an imperfectionist are reduced stress and greater results by taking positive action in more situations. The more fearless, confident, and free a person is, the more they embrace imperfection in their life.

Sincerely communicating effort over perfection makes us more relatable. Keep this italicized phrase in mind: effort over perfection. It’s worthy of being a life motto. In fact, it can work as a general solution to perfectionism. When you’re wrestling with perfectionism and procrastination, challenge yourself to “try and see what happens.”

It’s really that simple: being imperfect makes people like you more.

If you follow this advice, I guarantee you’ll be happier with your life:

Care less about results. Care more about putting in the work.
Care less about problems. Care more about making progress despite them. Or if you must fix something, focus on the solution.
Care less about what other people think. Care more about who you want to be and what you want to do.
Care less about doing it right. Care more about doing it at all.
Care less about failure. Care more about success.
Care less about timing. Care more about the task.

We get stuck when we feel like life is never enough: there’s not enough time in the day; we didn’t get enough sleep; we didn’t do enough this morning; there’s not enough money; or we’re not good enough for [unlimited reasons].

Perfectionists use their desire for positive results to motivate them to go through the process.
Imperfectionists focus on the process and let the results take care of themselves.

“I am going to do my best and not care how it turns out.”