When I was a kid, my father was incredibly into golf and wanted to take me golfing as a bonding activity. One of my favorite things to do with him was to go to the driving range. At the driving range, all the pressure of actually playing the game properly was taken away, and I was free to goof off and hit the ball as hard as I wanted. The best part of the driving range for me and the other mischievous little children was when a poor young soul had to go get all the balls we whacked onto the range.

The unfortunate soul whose job this was would drive out onto the range in a specialized armored vehicle, driving over and accumulating balls, all while children with horns popping out of their heads aimed directly at them. Whether intentional or not, you’d certainly hear a few “WHAM!” and “CRACK!” sounds as balls hit the metal vehicle.

In audio design, we often have a high ideal creatively to aim for. Much like that ball picker, it’s usually a single specific thing, but as we create, our idea of what perfection is can also change. In this article, I’m going to argue that I actually think having a single aim for your creative pursuits is a bad idea. Instead, for your creativity and success, it’s best to think of “perfection” as more of a range.

What do you mean perfection is a range? Isn’t it a single thing?
Yes, perfection is typically thought of as an ideal state of a thing – and that state can only be imagined one way (even if it’s subjective). Artists who focus on this can excel as they practice and perfect their craft – attempting to achieve the “perfect” picture or sound.

However, there’s also a dark side to this. As perfection in arts is in the eye of the beholder, our own standard of perfection can often move. We make something we love one day, while waking up the next and hating it. If we see someone who does better work than us, we wait to ship or share more until ours is even better. Worst case, we get into a creative paralysis where we can’t ship because whatever we’re working on isn’t “good enough,” and we stay awake into the wee hours for what turns into relatively minor improvements.

Instead, you’ll often notice working professionals start to consider the idea of perfection as a range when you hear things like “it’s good enough” or “it’s shippable.” These types of phrases indicate that, while maybe the product isn’t ideal, there is a place at which an acceptability standard can be met. It’s that concept that helps me tremendously, and I believe would help you to embrace further.

Why is it better to focus on perfection as a range than as a single thing?
To attain perfection in whatever we do is essentially impossible, whether it be in trying to optimize your life, plans, and goals or to pursue ultimate craft mastery on a project. Even if you are absolutely fantastic at what you do or you achieve every goal you have in a single day, ultimately the reality of life will catch up to you. There are no perfect lives, projects, or days – that is simply the way of things.

So instead of chasing “How can I make this better?” or “How can I make this perfect?”, you can still find tremendous improvement in “What’s good for today, and allows me to come back again tomorrow?” This is still subjective, still allows for a high level of performance and development, but stops short of being an ideal that you have to hold on to at all times (or else).

Most of us who strive for “perfection” or label ourselves as “perfectionists” are also incredibly skilled at self-torture. If it isn’t good enough, then we aren’t good enough. Regardless of the fact that our worth is not equivalent to our work output, this is an incredibly difficult way to live. The last 5% of perfection is always the hardest, most unclear, and most taxing to attain. If we lash ourselves in order to get as close to that last 5% as possible, we’re doing ourselves a disservice in the long run and heading towards burnout. Today, if nothing else, you may even be outpaced by those who find their “good enough”, ship, and keep up that work.

How do you figure out what the range is?
Unfortunately, unless you have an external leader, nobody can define the standard for you. I think it’s wise to play with this – any range you define can be as wide as you want it. In fact, the wider the range, the safer you are to yourself. Conversely, if you don’t push yourself enough, then you know you’re not improving. Typically, I think we have a good idea of when we’re being lazy, and a bad idea of when we’re overworking ourselves, so erring on the side of doing less tends to be a better option.

For me, I look less for “where should the bar be?” and ask more about where I’ll be pleased with myself. Some tasks are incredibly hard for me – even simple things like chores or emails – and if I can manage to get a small start and open up an email app, for me, that’s a huge win. I like to keep my to-do lists small because I know that I’m fantastic at judging myself or getting overwhelmed if I procrastinate. But work-related things, I have a proclivity for and can hold myself to a much narrower range.

I don’t think there’s an ideal here – it’s just what keeps you healthy. Over time, I’d like to have a higher standard for things that are difficult for me today. It may also be wise to relax my work standards at some point. These things can be flexible because life is flexible, and that’s okay!

“But Adam, if I cut myself some slack – won’t that just ruin everything and I’ll become lazier than a two toed sloth on a five day Netflix binge covered in Cheeto dust??? I’m a perfectionist and I can’t possibly give that up!”
I understand that feeling well, but we’d all rather be high achievers than high perfectionists. You and I both know that mastery comes over time – whether it be with our craft or ourselves. So it’s safe, not to cut corners, but to let go of the idea of perfection.

I don’t think the world is so black-and-white as to send you straight to ultimate laziness from perfectionism. You’d get bored entirely too quickly. So, don’t be a perfectionist – just be the best version of yourself today.

While I may have aimed golf balls at armored cars a few times…
And I admit, I was a little devil about it – I wasn’t good at that either. But it’s okay. Whether or not I hit a golf ball well as a kid or do my absolute best today, I can find a range between “great” and “perfect” that’s good enough to be excited to come back to tomorrow. I know you can too.

And before you close this email, hit reply…
If you’re interested in getting some secret preview chapters of Quit Aspiring, Vol. 2 (which I just wrapped the last chapter on) – I’ll be emailing out some copies to the first 3-5 of you that reply. All I’ll ask in return is that you answer a few questions about what you’ve read so I can get some feedback!