💪 Banish perfection paralysis (FREE post)

My journey to journalism started with eavesdropping.

I was four, and my mother was working on her first book. She’d play back her interview tapes in the basement, and I’d stand at the basement door, listening to the muffled voices. Now, she was listening to cops talk about their work — homicide, theft, drugs — so I was banned from going near enough to hear what was actually said. But I would still stand there, thinking, “There’s a job where you get to listen to people tell stories? And then tell other people those stories? I love stories!”

I still do.

When I feel worn down, I try to remember that feeling of wonder at the basement door. I didn’t know then where my desire to find and tell stories would lead me. I just knew I wanted to do it. And knowing what I wanted to do was good enough.

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As I’ve been researching and reporting on nonlinear career paths for the past several years, one theme keeps resurfacing. Instead of waiting for perfect conditions, we can take control by doing what’s possible in this moment. Like the curious eavesdropper at the basement door, it starts with a willingness to learn.

It’s all too easy to get pulled into the pursuit of perfection for our professional journeys. But perfection can be paralyzing. We get stuck wondering if a new opportunity is the right job. Instead, we should be asking if it could be right for right now.

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As it turns out, there’s a framework that’s designed to stop us overthinking what we should do next. As explained in Adam Thomas’ excellent Theory of Change newsletter, it’s called GESET: Good Enough for Now, Safe Enough to Try.

“GESET is a decision-making principle designed to break perfectionism and overcaution by focusing on two key questions:

✅ Is this good enough for now? (Not flawless, but functional?)

✅ Is this safe enough to try? (No major harm if we test it?)”

— Adam Thomas, Theory of Change #022

Careers can be a process of perpetual discovery. Commit to following your internal compass, and give yourself permission to try something new, and you’ll be amazed at where you can go. I’ve seen the difference this mindset makes as I am making my own major career turn, toward writing a book (on the Career River, of course).

Messy, but effective

When I first decided to set out on this book project, I was at dinner with friends. We were answering the question, “What do you want to do in the next 10 years?” And, surprising myself a bit, I said: “I want to have written a book.”

I have never, however, uttered these words: “I want to write a book.” What I really want is to skip ahead to the part where I’m done and it’s out in the world. Because writing a book sucks. In fact, the whole start of Amy Poehler’s book Yes Please is about how much writing a book sucks. It’s very reassuring when you’re in the thick of cobbling together your first few chapters.

So why put myself through all this extra work? Because I love telling stories, and I believe the Career River story offers a more holistic and realistic approach to making career choices. I’m writing this book for the woman who told me she wished she had this book when she was going through a career transition a few years back. If it can help just one person feel empowered about their career choices, it’ll all be worth it.

I’ve never been enthused about the craft of writing. But I’ll admit when I say “I’m writing a book,” there’s a dream scenario in my head: a warmly lit room lined with bookshelves, the morning sun streaming in the window, catching the steam rising from a fresh cup of coffee. Hours of time stretching ahead to be filled with focused work, everything I could need at my fingertips.

Yeah, that would be great. I could wait for that day to come, and I’d be waiting a long time. Or, I could make progress where I can, how I can. Because ultimately I don’t need the process to be perfect — just good enough to get me where I want to go.

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This week I created a brief overview of what I’ve learned for someone else going down Book-Writing Road. There’s quite a bit of “Good Enough for Now” in there, for example:

• To get through books for research, I take a photo of the page on my phone, quickly highlight the text, and put them in folders on my Drive. Usually I snag a chapter or two throughout the evening/weekend between momming/other stuff.

  

• The newsletter has been really helpful to have a weekly deadline. I’m working ahead on certain chapters with chunks of research for the newsletter (for example, this post when I finished reading a book for the chapter on becoming).

• I committed to book time: four hours during the work week, and at least 25 minutes every night after the kids are asleep … book time is sacred.

I’m actually pleased with my messy approach, because I’m making progress. If I had frittered away my precious time on setting up a beautiful research archive system, for example, by now I’d probably have … a mostly completed research archive system. Instead, I’ve gotten through seven books for my research, and I expect to finish the eighth this weekend.

Come to think of it, looking back on my mom and her work, it probably wasn’t her perfect writing situation to be sitting in our windowless basement while her young daughter lurked at the door. But she was getting it done — and inspiring me while she was at it.

Good enough.

Happy navigating,
Bridget

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