In 2023, when I started this blog, it was a new project that I was super excited about. I had planned to publish one meaningful blog a week. That would mean 42 blogs by now. I clearly failed at the goal I had in my mind, because by now I have been able to publish just 15 posts. Why? Because “Life Happened”. At least that’s the lie I tell people ,and also myself ,to justify my unfinished goal.
But the truth is, I was never short of time to write at least 300 words in a week. Subconsciously, I was was worried that what I write won’t be good enough. It wont be “PERFECT”. This strive for perfection, that won’t even let me accept “good-enough” work, caused me to jump from one unfished goal to a new noble goal for myself. I took a shot at several other goals: improve my swimming technique, read 50 books in a year, plan & travel to 3 different countries, research one company a week for investing and list the goes on. And of course, I failed at each of these goals.
I know I am not alone here. Unless you are demigod who does everything perfectly, I am sure you also have many such projects that you started with great zeal but then “Life Happened”, right?
But for once, do you want to see your self actually get to the finish line? Finish the book that you started to read, Finish learning how to play chords for at least 5 songs for which you bought the guitar that is lying around, or Finish the online course that you signed up for but never finished. If yes, you should give this book a shot.
It’s easy-to-read, short book. Through his book, Jon Acuff tells you what you already know and still keep lying to yourself. It is because of the fear of perfection, and too many goals at once that you are unable to get to the finish line. He then provides you simple but effective tools & frameworks that you can use to take you the finish line, no matter what your goal is. Here are the few great takeaways from the book:
Perfection is our enemy, good-enough is our friend : When we take up a goal, we want nothing but perfect outcome, consistently. And if the outcome isn’t perfect and consistent, we get discouraged and give up. However, perfection is overrated. If your goal was to lose 20lbs but you ended up losing only 14lbs, should you be discouraged because you didn’t achieve the perfect goal, and stop going to the gym? or should you accept the “good enough” results and continue with your daily work-outs? Therefore, ditch perfection’s company and hang-out more with good-enough.
Cut down on your goals: We humans have the tendency to overestimate ourselves and therefore, miscalculate the time, and effort needed to complete a task. Jon calls it “planning fallacy”. Remember when you boss asked you for the report and said I will give it you by EOD? And then failing to deliver? That’s because you overestimate your ability and time required. The best way to negate is to either cut down on your goal or increase the time span required to meet it. Losing 20lbs in 3 months is great, however losing 20lbs in 5 months is more probable.
Bomb other things: Even though you think you can multitask, you really can’t. We humans are not wired to do a lot of things at the same time. The probability of you achieving your goal increases many folds if you just do one thing at time. And ironically, it also increases the speed at which you knock out your tasks. Therefore, bomb other things from your plate for now and focus on that one tiny goal you have.
Make it fun: Fun is more rewarding and also gets you closer to finish line. So chose a path that is more fun, and also gets you closer to your goal. Want to lose 20lbs but hate going to the gym? Well, you don’t need to. You can pick up Zumba, if you love to dance or pick a sport that you love to play. You get the point.
Even though I believe it is a good-enough TLDR for the book, my post by no means justify what it has to offer. Therefore, if you are like me who struggles with getting to the finish line, pick it up. You won’t regret reading this fun & easy book.
Happy reading!!
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Also, here is a review of another amazing book that transformed my life: 80-20
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