Episode 784: Perfectionism versus Sloppiness
[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: [00:00:00] Thanks for joining me on episode 784 of the inspired stewardship podcast. I'm Matt and I'm Jocelyn from the family life movement podcast. We challenge you to find a way to balance your work and your family. And one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to this inspired stewardship podcast by my friend, Scott Mader.
[00:00:35] and then we have other areas where the truth is 80% of the way there is more than good enough and you should quit and save that time so that you can use it. Elsewhere where it would have a much bigger impact on your life, on your freedom, on your flexibility and allow you to focus on your priorities more.
[00:00:58] Welcome. And thank [00:01:00] you for joining us on the inspired stewardship podcasts. If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent and your treasures for your true calling. In the inspired stewardship podcast, we'll learn to invest in yourself, invest in others and develop your influence so that you can impact the world.
[00:01:29] And today's episode about investing in others through stewarding your talent. I talk with you about the difference between perfectionism and sloppiness. I also talk about the pros and cons of both, and I share with you some tips on how you can avoid both of them. You've heard me talk about developing your talent and what are the best ways to do that is through books.
[00:01:52] But if you're like most people today, it's hard to find the time to read. And that's why today's podcast is brought to you by [00:02:00] audible. Go to inspired stewardship.com/audible to sign up and you can get a 30 day free trial. There's over 180,000 titles to choose from. And you can pick one and listen your way to developing your talents via audible.
[00:02:19] That's inspired stewardship.com/audible to get your free trial and listen to great books the same way you're listening to this podcast. At first glance, this idea of perfectionism versus sloppiness may seem like a crazy one to talk about, but the truth is, perfectionism and sloppiness.
[00:02:43] They are completely the same or opposite either. There, there are pros and cons to both. There are reasons to pay attention to both, let me define what I mean, perfectionism is this idea or this [00:03:00] feeling comes in kind of two flavors. One is the feeling that nothing you do is good enough that no work that you deliver is ever good enough, that you should always improve it more than even after you've turned it over and said that this is it.
[00:03:15] I'm done. You still think to yourself, you still have this sort of imposter syndrome feeling of no, it's really not good enough. And eventually they're going to figure this out. And sloppiness here. I'm defining not as not wearing nice clothes or being, disorganized, but rather recognizing that there's work that at times just doesn't need the same attention to detail as other work, that there are things that you can let go intentionally.
[00:03:49] Are let be delivered a little less stringently intentionally. And if you look at it that way, then sometimes sloppiness has a [00:04:00] place. The pros, the good things about perfectionist while they do tend to actually deliver work, that is exacting that it's held to high standards. You don't have to go to a perfectionist and say, these are the standards to which I'm going to hold you because the truth is they're already holding themselves to higher standards than you could ever set you instead have to reassure them.
[00:04:27] There is work that they're doing well, that things are being delivered at a standard that you not only find acceptable, but that you find excellent. And with sloppiness, of course, the danger or the risk is always one of delivering work that is par of taking shortcuts on work. That's important and delivering something that doesn't work or that works much less well than it should.
[00:04:55] But pros of sloppiness is it tends to be done quicker. It [00:05:00] tends to be gotten out there where now you can learn from the real world. Cause see, one of the cons of perfectionism is it tends to be held to a standard that is artificial. It's not the standard of the marketplace. It's not the standard of the client or the customer and status.
[00:05:16] The standard that you hold yourself to, which, as I mentioned earlier, tends to be a standard that is higher than what anyone else would set for you. So the con of perfectionism is that it's slower and that it doesn't get out there into the real world where you can see the results of the work, where you can iterate and learn from it.
[00:05:43]The truth is neither. One of these is something that is applicable in all cases. Neither one of these is something that is all good or all bad. Instead, the truth is what makes it good or bad is where it shows up [00:06:00] and how intentional you are and letting them show up in the right place. If you've heard of the 80 20 rule.
[00:06:10] This idea that 80% of the results come from 20% of the effort. That's almost always true. The truth is you can get. 80% of the way to perfection with much less effort. And it takes you that other 80% of the effort to get you closer to a hundred percent, even though you never, probably really reach a hundred percent to even get you above 80 takes huge effort.
[00:06:40] And when you begin to recognize that, then you can begin to look at the work that you have and begin to decide where are the places where it's worth putting in that extra work? Where are the places where that 20% level of improvement is worth 80% of the work I would [00:07:00] argue, if you're a heart surgeon.
[00:07:02] I hope that you put in that additional 80% of the effort. If you're doing open heart surgery on me or someone that I love or care about. But on the other hand, if you're doing a quick report for your client or for a boss, Then that 80% level might be good enough. It depends on the impact of the report.
[00:07:24] You actually have to think about what's the purpose behind this work. What's the need? What is the level of criticality to which having 100% accurate information is important? I work with a lot of people on time and money. And one of the things that we focus on is. Where is it worth, actually paying attention at that level of detail, whether it's your time or your money, where do you want to zero in and make a commitment and actually spend the time and the effort to make sure that you're doing it perfectly.
[00:07:58] And where is it [00:08:00] okay. To have a little sloppiness? Where is it? Okay. To have a little bit of an error? Where is it okay to do a little less effort? Because that frees up time and money that you can use in other places without a huge impact on your life. And we all have areas like that in all components of our life.
[00:08:23] We all have areas where it is important that we spend that extra 80% of the effort to get that extra 20% of the benefit. And then we have other areas where the truth is 80% of the way there is more than good enough and you should quit and save that time so that you can use it elsewhere, where it would have a much bigger impact on your life, on your freedom, on your flexibility and allow you to focus on your priorities more.
[00:08:56] So where in your life are you [00:09:00] currently? Either being sloppy? When you should actually be perfectionistic or conversantly, where are you spending your time? Trying to reach perfection when actually a little sloppiness would be okay. Thanks for listening.
[00:09:20] thanks so much for listening to the inspired stewardship podcast as a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you liked this episode on the stewardship of talent, you can go over to inspired stewardship.com/talent and sign up.
[00:09:46] For our five week series on the stewardship of talent, or if you're in the U S you can text four, four, two, two, two talent tips. That's talent [00:10:00] tips to four four, two, two, two, and get those tips until next time, invest your time, your talent and your treasures. Develop your influence and impact the world.