You may have heard that a popular idea among Silicon Valley tech companies is “done is better than perfect.” This idea is not intended to promote that people or companies should do shoddy work. The point is that we should not waste time on non-essential activities; we should just get started and get things done. Perfectionism can be a costly productivity killer. Often it is much better to get something small done and out the door, rather than put off completion (or beginning) until something big and “perfect” can be accomplished (which might never happen).

For companies who produce products, this is sometimes expressed as creating a “minimal viable product” – the simplest possible product that will be useful and provide value to the customer. Many companies successfully operate in this way, delivering incremental improvements to their products over time, while they might also be working towards a bigger more complicated result.

As individuals we can adopt a similar approach to successfully create momentum and get things done. We can ask ourselves, “What is the smallest amount of progress that will get me closer to achieving my goal or finishing the project I need to complete?” If your task is to write a report, then the first step towards progress might be to write an outline or a rough draft. When you have completed the outline and rough draft, you will have made progress, built momentum, and be much closer to finishing the report. When we start small and reward progress, we often achieve more in the end than when we set big unrealistic goals.

If you or your employees could use support in overcoming perfectionism and improving your organization or productivity, contact us to learn more about how our expert Professional Organizer and Productivity Consultants help people improve time management, develop productive habits and achieve their goals.