The Perfectionism Trap Good enough is how you get good

A lot of us feel paralyzed by our own perfectionism. We have this idea of what we want to create, and then when we finally start and it isn't exactly how we had imagined, we stop. We get scared because it isn't right yet, it isn't ready yet, and that fear paralyzes us from continuing. And when we finally try again, we meet the same thing that we met before. Then comes self-deprecation. Time passes, and no progress has been made, so not only are you angry at yourself, but you're restless. You're getting anxiety. You feel shame that you haven't started. As a perfectionist, I can relate. Something that really helped me was Winnicott's concept of good enough. Good enough isn't about settling, it's about creating that standards that you know that you can meet. When I started this journey, I was really frustrated and annoyed at myself that I had this vision of what I wanted to make, but I actually didn't have the skills or experience yet to create it. I used this framework to just say to myself, I can strive for good enough. Good enough is a way of accepting your work as it is, knowing full well that it's not a reflection of what you're capable of, but it's the best you can do for now. This, very importantly, shifts your focus away from the output and towards something much more important, which is the habit of showing up. Building that habit and practicing is what actually gets you good. Also, side note, that's worth noting that if you're a perfectionist, your standards are already unusually high. So what you consider good enough is usually very good to the majority of people. It's easier said than done. I struggled with this for a long time, and the paralysis is real, but the skills and the growth that you're looking for, it won't come just by thinking and preparing the right thing. None of it comes before, only through work. Get started, get going, do it good enough, and see where it takes you.