Why near enough is sometimes good enough

In the relentless pursuit of excellence, an alarming trend rears its head in boardrooms and offices worldwide: the quest for perfection, a fruitless aim which paradoxically hinders true success.

A 2019 study published in the Personality and Social Psychology Review reveals a startling 33 percent increase in socially prescribed perfectionism among professionals. This rise in extreme standards isn’t driving greater achievements; instead, it might be fueling the epidemic of burnout.

While shooting for mediocrity or delivering sub-par work is unequivocally not the solution, there’s a fine line between striving for greatness and being paralyzed by perfectionism.

The perfection paralysis

Being known for impeccable standards and attention to detail would no doubt carry a certain ‘zing’. Being committed to creating PowerPoint presentations which are works of art, precisely crafted emails and strategic plans that could make Sun Tzu weep may be considered somewhat enviable.

However, time spent obsessing over the perfect shade of blue for a pie chart, or laboring over a killer sentence could see less pedantic competitors already three steps ahead. When the drive for excellence clouds all else, it’s no longer an asset, but an impediment.

According to the aforementioned study, perfectionism is on the rise. The data collected from 41,641 American, Canadian and British college students from 1989 to 2016, revealed that perfectionism increased significantly over this period.

Meanwhile, a 2021 survey by Deloitte found that 77 percent of respondents have experienced burnout at their current job, with 91 percent saying that unmanageable stress or frustration impacts the quality of their work. While perfectionism isn’t the sole cause of burnout, the internal pressure it creates may certainly be a contributing factor.

Breaking free from the excellence trap

It is entirely possible to maintain high standards without being a slave to excellence, but it takes awareness and a willingness to be simply OK.

Strategies to help you implement this new mindset could be:

1. Embrace the ‘Good Enough Revolution’: Channel your inner Scandinavian and adopt the concept of lagom – the divine Swedish word for not too little, not too much, just right. Your quarterly report doesn’t need to rival the Sistine Chapel ceiling in beauty and complexity.
2. Set realistic deadlines (and actually stick to them): Give yourself and your team permission to finish tasks within a reasonable timeframe. Remember, a good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow.
3. Cultivate a ‘fail fast’ mentality: Encourage experimentation and quick iterations. Not every project needs to be a masterpiece. Sometimes, a rough sketch can provide more value than a finished artwork.
4. Practice selective negligence: Identify areas where excellence truly matters and areas where ‘good enough’ will suffice. Your core product? Absolutely. The font on your internal memos? Not so much.
5. Redefine excellence: Instead of perfection, strive for progress and innovation. Excellence should be about pushing boundaries and trying new things, not about achieving flawless execution every single time.

Remember, some of the world’s greatest innovations came from imperfect beginnings. The first iPhone didn’t have copy and paste. Facebook started as a way to rate the attractiveness of college students. Google began in a garage with a misspelled name (they meant to register ‘Googol’).

Waiting for perfection often means waiting forever. In the immortal words of LinkedIn motivational posts everywhere: ‘Done is better than perfect’.

Embracing the beauty of ‘almost perfect’

It’s time we lead the rebellion against the tyranny of excellence. Cultivating environments where ‘good enough’ isn’t a shameful whisper but a rallying cry. Where teams feel empowered to take risks, make mistakes and learn from them. Where the pursuit of perfection doesn’t come at the cost of progress, innovation and, dare we say it, fun.

Next time you find yourself obsessing over the letter spacing in your presentation or debating whether to share a concept not yet fully fleshed, take a deep breath and ask yourself: "Is this already good enough for someone else’s eyes?"

Remember, in the grand buffet of business success, sometimes it’s OK to serve the occasional half-baked idea. Who knows, maybe that person has just the thing required to make it ‘perfect’? Otherwise, ‘good enough’ was obviously good enough.