Why Good Enough Is Better than Perfect

The simple psychological shift to free you from perfectionism

The simple psychological shift to free you from perfectionism

Pic by Adobe Stock

Perfectionism is not striving for excellence but being impaired by it.

“My life has been nothing but a failure,” perfectionist Claude Monet once said.

In 1908, after three years of working on a new series of paintings, Monet felt many weren’t up to his standard. It was right before the opening of a new exhibition in Paris.

With a knife and a paintbrush, the French artist destroyed 15 of the would-be masterpieces.

The exhibition, of course, had to be postponed.

“I know well enough in advance that you’ll find my paintings perfect. I know that if they are exhibited, they’ll be a great success, but I couldn’t be more indifferent to it since I know they are bad, I’m certain of it.” — Monet wrote.

For a perfectionist, nothing is ever perfect enough.

Perfection is an illusion — we believe it makes us better but actually harms us. Perfectionism is not a standard, but a way of living. The more you try to be perfect, the wo…