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Perfectionism: the most prolific form of procrastination
By dana | September 24, 2007
Have you ever had an unplanned dark day on your blog because you have the perfect idea for a post, but you can’t seem to get it just right?
The main problem is that one dark day can quickly into 2, 3, 4 and before you know it you reach the “I’ve been gone so long I might as well give up” stage!
In my opinion, this perfectionism is the most prolific and poisionous form of procrastination because it’s really the most self-righteous way of avoiding the tough stuff. You can tell yourself that you’re not being lazy or putting off the work because you have something better to do. No, you’re waiting patiently waiting for a lightning bolt of inspiration to fill in the blanks for you like the artist that you are.
Guess what, that lightning bolt isn’t likely to strike without a little brainstorming…sorry bad pun. You may be a master of spin or even Sphinn, but don’t kid yourself. You’re procrastinating!
That’s right, I’m calling you (and me) out. Our perfectionistic procrasination is no more noble than a kid in high school putting off studying for the final until the night before because they opted to go shopping, hang out at Jimmy’s house and go see every movie playing at the Cineplex.
If that post isn’t ready for primetime yet, that’s fine finish it anyway. Then decide whether it’s worth some additional research and reworking or if it’s time to cut your losses and hit delete.
And painful as it might be to accept, every post you publish will not be perfect. The great thing is that there will be readers who think every post is stellar no matter what. The flip side is that there will also be readers, stumblers, diggers, sphinners, etc. that think every post you write is abysmal. Luckily, most fall somewhere in between!
So when did I start writing this imperfect post? I’ll never tell 
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September 24th, 2007 at 9:39 am
I agree.
There’s nothing quite like that delicious little pause over the ‘Publish’ button just before hitting it…..
Publish & be damned!
September 24th, 2007 at 9:56 am
Exactly Chris…I’m not ashamed to admit I get an adrenaline rush at that moment…it’s my non-athletic, geeky way of releasing a jump shot
September 24th, 2007 at 10:20 am
Well, my posts may not be the greatest. However, I do know that everyone of them is written with lots of passion, honesty and integrity.
September 24th, 2007 at 10:59 am
Hi Vivienne, I think those are three of the most important things in the greatest posts!
September 24th, 2007 at 11:08 am
Dana,
Thanks for calling me out.
I hit this stage before: ““I’ve been gone so long I might as well give up” stage!” with my own blog and it took some deep digging within myself to come up with reasons to start blogging again. I wrote about it here: http://www.momcominghome.com/mom/archives/2007/08/mom_is_back_to_blogging_basics.html
If I ever feel stuck again, I will come back here and re-read your post!
September 24th, 2007 at 11:13 am
Your welcome Maura
I’m dangerously close to that stage over at my Virtual Insanity or Virtual Reality blog! I’m forcing myself to focus on a post over there right now.
September 24th, 2007 at 2:42 pm
You speak, er, write the truth! Sometimes you just have to let it be a silver or bronze medal instead of gold
September 24th, 2007 at 9:11 pm
Hey this is what I encounter many times too! But then I just tell myself - it’s just my little own opinion - some might like it, others won’t. So what the heck.
“Publish!”
September 25th, 2007 at 12:34 am
I agree with you Dana…I am too guilty of this *sometime* and I find myself wasting hours by this, the next thing I know is that none of it was necessary at all
Sweet post. Stumbled it!
Take care,
Sean
September 25th, 2007 at 12:35 am
I’ve trained myself to schedule my posts strategically, with the exception of traffic tsunami surfing of course. As much as I enjoy the rush of hitting the publish button, being able to space your content out over a greater timespan and at regular intervals will ultimately help build a regular audience.
In addition you don’t have to scrape the barrel to find content as often. I always have something to write about in my area, but writing an article everyday can be a strain.
September 25th, 2007 at 5:17 pm
Hit delete? Heck, sometimes you just need to realize that a good post is enough. There is no such thing as the perfect post.
October 8th, 2007 at 4:37 pm
[…] lot of bloggers are addicted to instant gratification, that is writing our post and slamming that publish button as soon as possible. Instant […]
October 18th, 2007 at 10:33 pm
[…] Dana Wallert was kind enough to stumble one of my posts and led me to the wonderful user community of StumbleUpon. I’ve been having fun stumbling new sites and meeting other bloggers. Dana also taught me to not let my perfectionism get in the way of my blogging. […]