- I have a confession to make. I'm a perfectionist. I know, I know, you probably
would've never guessed it. The borderline obsessive
compulsive minimalist that tried on 25 different t-shirts until he found the best
fit is a perfectionist? Color me surprised. But here's the thing. I don't see my
perfectionism as a weakness. Today, when people talk
about perfectionism it's almost exclusively used
in the pejorative sense. It's something that you need to overcome in order to create your
best work or ideal life. But if you've ever been
called a perfectionist it might actually be a good thing. In fact, that's often where
our genius comes from. You just have to be careful because it can also hold you
back in the worst way possible. This video is sponsored by Squarespace. I'll talk more about them later. Being a perfectionist has
helped me throughout my life. It's one of the reasons why I was able to build a successful freelance business, why my YouTube channel took off and how I've created a
life where I'm fulfilled but also constantly challenged. But if I'm being honest,
it wasn't always like this. There was definitely a much younger and inexperienced Matt that
let perfectionism get the best of him resulting in projects
that failed to launch or never got off the ground. So I wanna talk about how we can harness
our perfectionist tendencies for good, but first it's
important to understand why we often get it so wrong. So when it comes to perfectionism,
a 20017 study revealed that there are actually two
different types, you might either be an adaptive perfectionist or a maladaptive perfectionist. Adaptive perfectionism is the healthy or useful type. People who fall into this category derive satisfaction from achievements made from intense effort and
tolerate imperfections. But as we know, there's also
a dark side to perfectionism. If you find yourself in a
constant state of self-criticism and self sabotage, your likely
a maladaptive perfectionist. And that's gonna seriously hold you back. For many of us that harsh inner critic is at the wheel of our perfectionism. It's the voice that tells us that if we're not able
to do something perfectly then we may as well not attempt it at all. Simply put we use perfectionism
often as an excuse. I'll start my business when
the timing is just right. I'll only date someone if they're a perfect match. I'll publish my first book when every last detail lines up. We often hesitate to start something new because we're actually afraid. We're afraid of failing,
saying something awkward, looking like a complete idiot
or all three at the same time. But this tendency to wait for
of perfectionism holds us back from growth and it robs us of opportunity. Enter the story of the
Thief and the Cobbler. This animated film holds
Guinness World Record for the longest production
time of any film, stretching from 1964 to 1993, it took over 29 years to complete. Behind the scenes was a
talented yet painfully perfectionist animator by
the name of Richard Williams, most famous for his work
on Who Framed Roger Rabbit. The Thief and the Cobbler was set to be his magnum opus using
complex animation techniques. It told the story of a
lonely Arabian princess and a poor cobbler who fall in love while trying to retrieve magical orbs. Sound familiar? - Are you looking at me? - In the late '80s, Williams finally got
funding from Warner Bros to bring his vision to life,
but there was a problem. Williams was so fixated on getting every intricate
animation detail right that it sent him spiraling into a never ending loop of perfectionism. - And I'm gonna do a masterpiece. I hope, if I can ever finish the thing. - His ambitions for flawlessness
drove the project well over timeline and budget and Warner Bros were
forced to dump the film. The film was eventually
taken over by another studio in 1993 and a cobbled together
version was finally released with lackluster reviews and
poor box office performance. It might have been because
a very similar film was released one year earlier by Disney. Yes, it was Aladdin. Not only did it have a
nearly identical storyline, characters and setting,
but it was also animated by some of Williams' former employees. Ouch. Now in a way, The Thief and
the Cobbler is a cult classic with an iconic legacy of its own but its also a precautionary tale of the danger of letting
perfectionism hold you back. Now, if you're someone who
constantly strives for perfection it can be difficult to know
where to draw the line. If I'm not aiming for perfection then what the hell am I working towards? Well, there are four
principles that have helped me out the most with everything from my creative work to my dating life. But before I share those
lessons on how you can turn perfectionism into a strength, a quick word about Squarespace. They're my sponsor for this week's video. Let's say that you finally win your battle with perfectionism and
decide to start a blog about you and your cat. So you go to Squarespace and
fittingly, grab the domain impurrfect.com. Wait, what? It's taken? What the (beep) you worked so hard. You come up with a real, really
good idea and no it's okay. You were gonna get .com,
but somebody already took it and that's okay because we're
fine with impurrfect.net. Next, you choose a template
that fits the vibe of your blog. Something like this. After that, you can add
photos, drop in your logo and muster up the courage
to make your first post. All with just a few clicks. With Squarepace, you
can scale your business with detailed analytics, scheduled posts, and e-commerce stores. It's never been easier
to build a website to show the world how imperfectly
happy you and your cat are. Visit squarespace.com
today for a free trial. And when you're ready to launch, go to squarespace.com/mattdavella
to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. When you support Squarespace by using the link in the description below you're also supporting this channel. So thank you for considering. I truly believe that there is something special
inside every perfectionist. They have this relentless drive
to be great at what they do. And I think all the best artists, athletes and entrepreneurs have it. But as we've seen, just
because you're a perfectionist doesn't necessarily mean that
you're destined for success. So how do you turn
perfectionism into a strength? One thing that's helped me
is to create realistic goals. If you haven't identified
what done looks like you'll never know when to stop and you don't have to
over-complicate things either. It could be as simple as figuring out how to make your project
or endeavor complete. If you wanna run a marathon, instead of coming up with an
ambitious time based goal of running it in four hours you could just create a
goal to finish the marathon. If you wanna start meditating,
instead of committing to doing it every day for
a hundred days straight you could set the goal of meditating three
days a week for a month. If you wanna write a book, instead of trying to write all
75,000 words in a month you could set out to
write 2000 words a day until you've written a book. Rather than endlessly pursuing an elusive standard of perfection. What if you actually focused
on making the project complete? Try to get to a place where
all the elements are there and nothing crucial is missing. Since these goals are far more realistic you'll be more likely to
actually stick to them. As the expression goes, done is better than perfect because
perfect is never done. Aim for effort, shooting
for perfection sets us up for failure because it's
outside of our control. We can't control how
skilled our competition is, what obstacles are going to arise or how other people perceive our work. But what we can control is
how much effort we put in. As my mom used to tell me,
growing up, just try your best. That's all you can do. Now that's wholesome as (beep). So if you're starting to put yourself out into the dating world try to focus on the effort you put in not the outcome because you
will get rejected a lot. You will go on dates that totally flop and you'll get flaked and
ghosted over and over again. I should know, but you
should be proud of yourself for taking those uncomfortable
steps into uncertainty. And when you aim for effort you'll start to see improvements. Imagine what would happen as
author James Clear suggests if we made a continuous
improvement of 1% every day, whether it's getting better at writing or lifting weights in the gym, making minimal improvements
each day feels less overwhelming than trying to become a master overnight. But if you commit to
improving by just 1% every day for a year, you'd be 37%
better by the end of it. And that's a radical change. Stop at 90%. Letting go of perfectionism
doesn't mean settling for second rate or sloppy work. It's possible to still have
high standards for yourself but there has to come a
time when enough is enough. Consider the law of diminishing returns. This economic principle refers to the point in any
production process that once reached will start to decrease output. For example, a worker
may produce 100 units per hour for 40 hours,
but in the 41st hour the output drops to 90 units. After this additional effort
is rarely worth the cost and it's more beneficial
to wrap things up. A far more realistic
and sustainable approach is to strive for good enough. That sweet spot between
perfect and passable. For me, this means stopping
once I've gotten the project 90% of the way there. When it comes to the videos
that I make on YouTube. I know that most people won't
even notice that final 10%. These are the tweaks and changes that might
marginally improve a project but won't make a difference in
the outcome or success of it. When I allow myself to let that 10% go it means I accept the fact that I can't control
every single last detail. Every transition won't be perfect. I might forget to color
grade a clip, but that's okay if it helps me move the project forward. If you follow this strategy you can still put things
out into the world that you're proud of
without paralyzing yourself in the pursuit of perfection. Set ambitious deadlines. It's funny that something as simple as setting an arbitrary
deadline can make such a radical difference in what
you're able to accomplish. The reason is be because
without a deadline a perfectionist will never stop. Whether they're masking
their fear of failure by obsessing over every last
detail or procrastinating getting started in the first place a proper deadline creates
a clear finish line. You can now start to work backwards to determine the small steps you need to take to finish this project on time. And when you create an ambitious deadline something really funny happens. You start to quickly
realize what is essential for the project and what you've
been wasting your time on. You just have to be careful that you don't run into a constant state of burnout because you're
too hard on yourself. Humans are really bad at determining how long things will take. So do your best to reach your deadline. But if you have to push
it a little bit further that's okay as well. By the way, if you're a
freelancer working with clients then here's the biggest
lesson that I've learned about setting deadlines. Tell your client, it will take
twice as long as you think it'll actually take. By setting two deadlines, one for yourself and one for your client, you'll never be late with a project again. And you'll often deliver
a project way earlier surpassing your client's expectations and earning a client for life. If I could leave you with
one thing, it'd be this. No matter what you're working on whether it's a YouTube
video or a relationship it's okay to push yourself to be great. But at the end of the day, you need to understand that perfection
doesn't actually exist. There's no universal authority on what makes something perfect. And each of us has our own different
standards that are shaped by our experiences,
perspectives and beliefs. While one person might
think is the holy grail. The next person will
think is complete trash. So go ahead and obsess about your work while you're working and
strive to be exceptional with the limited time that you've got. But once you've made
it 90% of the way there know when it's time to say good enough. (upbeat music)
