Have you been seeing anti-perfectionism quotes on your social media handles such as, ‘make it exist first. Then make it perfect’ and ‘action before perfection’? Well, they have been doing the rounds. An unsettling idea for those born before 1990. What’s more unsettling for us is that people born after 1990 are independent drivers of how things run today. In Gen Z lingo, that’s how things roll today. Why was getting it perfect first, so important to earlier generations? Why was being a ‘perfectionist’ considered to be an impressive quality? Why was that ability to meticulously perfect a skill before setting it in motion paramount? It is the same thing that held these generations back from exploring, experimenting, expressing or simply sharing their creations unless and until they themselves found it to be ‘worthy’ of it. We were and often still are harsh critiques of anything that is created? Well, it is because the cost of getting things wrong used to be very high, once upon a time. Not just monetarily but also in terms of lost opportunity.
Today, that’s not the case, is it? Opportunity is omnipresent like the air we breathe. Cost of error? Close to nil. In a few clicks, we can edit forms online, correct published social media posts, iterate LIVE digital marketing ads, return things purchased, no questions asked – the list goes on. Case in point: I self published a book. The first batch of 20 odd books sold had spelling errors and the illustrations were too small for e-book viewing. I logged on to my dashboard on NotionPress, made the changes I wanted. Took me 3 days. That’s it. The rest of the books sold are error free. Now the book in the market for eternity is the perfect copy. So, is perfectionism dead? The answer is no.
The change is that we no longer allow perfectionism to be a hurdle. Perfectionism is no longer a license to be a difficult team player. Perfection is achieved over several iterations. Moreover, the journey from imperfection to perfection is on full display. The audience understands. Or simply forgets the older versions. Halting or slowing down a process over perfectionism is no longer relevant or an optimum use of time and budgets.
Perfectionism may have been rendered irrelevant but what is still very much alive is detailing. Everything is in the details. Still. We live in times when we have the facility to go on working on those finer details. In a world where most things are cloned and AI generated, the tiniest of detail is what it will take to rise above.
Attention to every element from manufacture to marketing to post sales engagement, can change how what we create is received. This attention keeps us in permanent improvement mode. In a deeply DIY(do it yourself) world and investment in professional consultation be it for design, copy, imagery, public relations or community management, can help a business ger that sliver of an edge over the rest. A sliver of an edge can be worth millions, today. Getting it perfect the first time may not matter. Launching and then iterating based on audience/customer feedback and professional consultation to focus on the details is what amounts to perfection, today.
From musicians and youtube vloggers to business owners and brands, the ones who seek to be connecting better are the ones who showcase their journey through all the wins but also their failures – and involve the customer in their story.
It may not be important to get things absolutely perfect at first go. Perfection in that sense could be a waste of time, save a few exceptions. Due time should be invested for perfect results if the product has health and medicinal properties or for research that crucial decisions rely on. For most everything else it has become a better use of resources to make things exist first and then nurture it to perfection.
The views and opinions published here belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the publisher.
