He spent 3 hours on an email that should take 10 minutes. Restarted projects because they weren't perfect. Delayed launching anything because it could always be better. The perfectionism wasn't making his work great. It was making him paralyzed.
Nathan is 32, a designer who's talented but blocked. He has a folder of unfinished projects. Ideas that were good but not good enough. Work that's 90% done but stuck in revision hell. He tells himself it's about quality. But the real story is fear.
If it's not perfect, it reveals that he's not perfect. If it's not perfect, people will see the cracks. If it's not perfect, it shouldn't exist at all. The perfectionism isn't about high standards. It's about shame avoidance disguised as excellence.
The irony? His perfectionism produces less output than his peers' "good enough." He's so busy polishing things that never ship that his talent stays invisible. The perfect is the enemy of the done.
"Spent the entire day on one presentation slide. One slide. Adjusted the kerning eight times. Changed the color palette four times. It's still not right. And I have 20 more slides to do. The deadline is Friday and I've made basically no progress because nothing is good enough."
"Friend launched his side project today. It's not even that polished. Some rough edges. But it's out there. People are using it. Giving feedback. Meanwhile, my 'better' idea has been in development hell for two years. What's the point of theoretical perfection if it never exists?"
"Asked myself: what am I actually afraid of? And it's not that the work will be bad. It's that people will see the work and think I'm bad. The perfectionism isn't about quality. It's about hiding. If I never finish, no one can judge the finished product. No one can judge me."
I've tracked your perfectionism patterns this week. Here's what the data shows:
The pattern isn't about quality. It's about visibility. You're not perfecting the work. You're protecting yourself from judgment by never finishing.
But what if I ship something and it's actually bad?
Then you'll learn what actually needs improving. Right now, you're guessing. Endless revision without feedback is just polishing blindly. Real improvement requires real information.
What's worse: shipping something imperfect, or never shipping at all?
I guess... never shipping. At least something imperfect exists.
Exactly. Done is better than perfect because done is real. Perfect is a fantasy that lets you avoid the vulnerability of being seen. But that vulnerability is also where growth and connection happen.
"Did the experiment. Shipped a design that was 'good enough' instead of 'perfect.' Set a timer, worked until it rang, then hit send. My hands were shaking. Waited for the criticism."
"The feedback? 'Looks great!' That's it. Nobody noticed the things I was agonizing over. Nobody saw the flaws I was sure were obvious. The gap between my standards and others' expectations is massive."
This week you shipped 3 things at "good enough" instead of "perfect." Average time per project dropped by 70%. Feedback received: all positive. The perfection tax you were paying wasn't buying you better results. It was buying you avoidance.
"The perfectionism isn't gone. It still whispers that I could do better, tweak more, wait longer. But now I have evidence that 'good enough' is actually... good enough. The world didn't end. Nobody thinks I'm incompetent. The only person who noticed the imperfections was me. Maybe that's the whole point of perfectionism: a private prison nobody else can see."
Perfectionism isn't about high standards. It's about fear of being seen.
The flaws he saw were invisible to everyone else. His standards were his prison, not quality control.
Three shipped projects taught him more than two years of polishing unfinished ones.
Shipping imperfect work didn't destroy his reputation. It revealed him as a real person who makes things.
Nathan finally launched that side project. It wasn't perfect. It had bugs. It had rough edges. It also had users who loved it and gave feedback that made it better. He's shipped more in six months than in the previous three years. Not because his standards dropped, but because he stopped letting fear dress up as quality.
If you're revising instead of shipping, polishing instead of publishing, Lound can help you see the pattern. Track the real cost of perfect. Find out what "good enough" actually looks like.