Okay so last week my boss dumped this big project on me, right? And man, I totally spiraled into full-on Virgo panic mode. Started obsessing over font sizes in the presentation deck at like 3 AM. Seriously? Who does that? Me. That’s who.
Here’s how my ‘being too damn picky’ thing usually goes down:
- I see tiny errors nobody else notices. Misaligned bullet points? Unacceptable. Drives me nuts.
- I ask for like, twelve revisions on stuff. Simple feedback doc? End up rewriting half of it myself ’cause it “doesn’t feel right”. Pisses people off.
- I waste HOURS fixing unimportant details while big deadlines loom. It’s stupid.
This project was my wake-up call. My colleague straight up snapped, “Dude, chill! It’s good enough!” Ouch. But she wasn’t wrong. That perfectionism? Slows everything down and makes teamwork hell.
So, I actually tried some fixes this week. Real talk – they felt weird, but kinda worked:
- Set a “Good Enough” Deadline: For emails? Gave myself 10 minutes tops. Sent one with a typo. Felt like walking naked in public. But guess what? No lightning bolt struck me. Manager just replied, “Got it, thanks.”
- Asked “Does This ACTUALLY Matter?”: Spotted a super minor chart color clash in the report. Before diving into Photoshop, I asked myself this. Answer? Nope. Closed the file. Saved 40 minutes. Felt unnatural, but freeing.
- Loosened the Reins: Delegate part of the project? Normally I’d micromanage every comma. This time? Handed it over, gave broad goals, and gulp trusted them. Bit my tongue hard when they used a different format. But their work was solid! Actually… creative. Weird.
Biggest shocker? Yesterday, I actually finished a task early. Didn’t polish the formatting to oblivion. Just… sent it. Nobody complained. My brain kept screaming, “IT’S WRONG!” but reality said otherwise. Might sleep better too.
Still messing up sometimes?
- Oh yeah. Old habits die hard. Caught myself rewriting a Slack message 7 times. Had to physically move my hands away from the keyboard.
- The urge to correct everyone’s tiny mistakes? Still there. Like an itch. Learning to scratch it privately.
Point is, trying NOT to be picky feels wrong, clumsy even. But the chaos? Less. The stress? Lower. Not chasing perfection every second leaves room to actually breathe. And maybe get some damn sleep.
