The Perfection Trap

You can spend hours, days or even weeks chasing perfection. That extra time and effort you put in can end up being wasted, if you have already reached a point where it's as good as it's going to get. In a worst case scenario, you may even risk ruining a project if you get carried away. I know I've ended up doing this many times. Knowing when to call a project finished is a skill I am still trying to develop. So I find sharing my projects with others (especially my wonderful wife) can help a lot to avoid that "is it good enough" spiral.

Instead of chasing perfection I try to challenge myself to learn new skills/techniques and be willing to make mistakes. Not worrying about failure is not easy, but it is a great way to learn things. Sometimes a happy accident can happen and you find a new way of doing or thinking about something.

One personal example of this is painting miniatures. I've painted thousands of models over the years but seem to never have anything to show for it. I only realised recently that historically I never seem to have got around to that final step of applying a protective varnish coat, as I kept thinking models were not quite finished. Combined with not the best storage and eventually the paint gets chipped or scratched. So most of the models that I have painted have spent time in a stripping solution and been repainted over and over again. What's worse is there are lots of models I've never got around to assembling never mind painting due to this. The pile of shame (aka my hoard of models) seems to always grow and maybe, just maybe this is why?

Self reflection can sometimes uncover an interesting mix of golden nuggets of wisdom and uncomfortable truths. How many times have I attempted to pen this opening blog post? Time to stop chasing perfection and just post it ...

"You never know, it could be great. Take a chance 'cause you might grow."  (Gwen Stefani - What You Waiting For?)