Don't aim for perfect, instead aim for good enough

Someone close to me once said some wise words about aiming for good enough and not worrying about perfection. I think I speak for many of us when I say that I think we spend far too much time trying to aim for perfection when doing any type of task or activity.

Whether you’re trying to figure out how running a business works or running numbers on a deal or trying to match paint colors to an image you saw, it’s alright to be close enough. I think about the times I spent getting 90-95% perfect and when I aim for the last 5-10% it can sometimes end up taking me 3 TIMES the effort that it took me to get the initial 90% and then I wonder “Maybe it’s not worth it”. For example, I try to get 90-95% of the budget planned out and the rule of thumb I always hear is to factor 10-20% for contingency, because it’s hard to plan for everything.

Some solutions to get to a more perfect outcome is by keeping good records and spreadsheets. When you’re very familiar with every possible cost (material & labor) you can get a very close number, sometimes off by a few percentage points. Checklists can also be used for on-the-job type activities such as making sure each job is completed and you can run down the checklist to confirm that outlets are covered, holes are spackled and touched up, etc.

The most important thing is having a plan and going for it, but being able to adapt to the situation. Prepare for exit strategies in best case scenarios as well as the worst case ones. Don’t get paralyzed because everything is going perfectly, rather get comfortable knowing something unexpected can and probably will come up and have a plan for it.