Introduction
Welcome to The Overachievers Podcast, for those times when achieving everything is still not enough.
There is a strange piece of logic that most overachievers run without ever examining it. As long as something isn’t finished, it can’t be judged. The moment it is finished, every flaw becomes permanent, visible, yours to answer for. So the work stays almost done. The project sits at ninety-five percent. The manuscript stays in the drawer.
And while it sits there, the world doesn’t wait.
In this episode, we pull that logic apart. We look at the very specific fear that keeps things unfinished long after they’re ready, what it actually costs, and why done is not failure. Undone is.
Key Themes
- The logic that keeps work permanently unfinished
- Why almost done feels like staying safe
- What staying hidden costs you and others
- Done as verdict versus done as a version
- The only real failure worth examining
If You Prefer Video
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Episode 025 – The Perfectionism Trap
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Transcript
This is the Overachievers Podcast for people who want success without the burnout, there is a strange piece of logic most overachievers are running without ever examining it. As long as something isn’t finished, it can’t be judged. The moment it is finished, every flaw becomes permanent, visible, yours to answer for. Today, we’re going to pull that logic apart because it’s wrong and it is costing you more than you realise. Welcome to the Overachievers Podcast with Keith Blakemore-Noble. Because success shouldn’t cost everything. Hello. Welcome back.
I’m Keith Blakemore-Noble, the Overachievers coach. Last time we looked at perfectionism as something that quietly disguises itself as care, and we looked at the endless tweaking that keeps work from ever actually shipping. Today we’re going to go further into that same territory, into the very specific fear that keeps things unfinished long after they’re ready. Before we dive in, if you haven’t already, do give us a Follow a Like a subscribe on whatever platform you’re listening to. Share this episode far and wide. Give us a review. It’s the easiest way to make sure that you don’t miss an episode, and it’s the easiest way to make sure others benefit from the same episodes. Thank you.
Now here is the equation running underneath. A lot of unfinished work done equals failure. Not consciously. We’re not consciously thinking that nobody sits down and decides that finishing something is dangerous. But somewhere underneath that conscious thought, a shortcut was formed while something is still in progress. It’s protected. It’s a draft. It’s a work in progress.
Any flaw in it can be excused because it’s not yet done. The moment you call it finished, that protection disappears. Every floor, however small, becomes fixed in place. Visible, permanent, yours. So the floors stay hidden by the very simple trick of never actually finishing, and not yet becomes a surprisingly comfortable place to live. Let me illustrate what I mean. Just picture the manuscript that has been sat in a drawer or sat on your hard drive for possibly years. Not because it isn’t good.
Often it is genuinely really good, but it’s never quite ready. There’s always another pass that could sharpen it further, or another chapter that could be a little bit stronger. And while it sits there unfinished, something else is happening that rarely gets counted, rarely gets mentioned, rarely gets thought about. Nobody reads it, so nobody is moved by it, nobody is comforted by it, nobody is changed by it, whatever it might have given. Perhaps a way of seeing people in a different light, perhaps helping people to feel understood Good. Whatever it might have given someone, none of that gets to happen. Not because the writing failed, but because it was never allowed to exist in anyone else’s hands. Or picture the project that’s been sitting at happily sitting at 95% for months.
We didn’t finish it because, hey, that would be a failure, because there’s still bits to do. It’s. It’s almost ready. It’s just a little refinement here, a little tweak there, a slight modification on that part. Sitting at 95% for months. And while it sits there, the world doesn’t wait. Someone else builds something similar and they ship it. They get the recognition, they get the clients, they get the opportunities that could have been yours.
Your project isn’t unfinished anymore. It’s overtaken, superseded, outdated, beaten to the finish line by something that was quite probably rougher than the very project that you are still sitting on. That’s happened before, hasn’t it? More than once. If we’re honest with ourselves. Think back over your own history for a moment. Think carefully about it. Again, none of this is about judgment. This is just about bringing these things to our awareness so that we can address them and we can improve ourselves in the future.
So think back over your own history for a moment. Is there something that you’ve not released? Something you’ve never released, Something you’ve maybe sat on, refined, adjusted, tweaked, fine tuned, but never actually let out into the world? And as you think about that, whatever it is, what might have happened if you had released it, who might it have reached? What might have come from it, who might have benefited? Yes, there may well have been flaws with it, there may well have been mistakes. There may well have been things that people, people would have judged and people would have said, hey, that could have been better. But that’s true of everything. But if you had released it alongside all of that, who might have benefited from it, what might have. How might it have helped people? And how might that have improved their lives? And just realise absolutely none of that got to happen. And it’s worth being honest with yourself about what that actually cost, what it cost you and what it cost others. I know it can be uncomfortable thinking about this, but this is the reality.
When you sit on these things because you’re scared that done equals failure, because people will see things wrong with it all the time you’re sitting on these things, you’re depriving other people of the very thing that they may well need. There is a distinction here that is worth naming clearly, staying unfinished feels like staying safe. And, you know, I guess in a narrow sense, maybe it is. Nobody can judge what they’ve never seen, right? But staying unfinished also means staying stuck. Nothing that remains hidden can be tested, improved, built upon. It exists in a kind of suspended state, protected from judgment and protected from ever becoming anything more than merely a draft. Finishing exposes the work to judgment. Yes, absolutely it does.
But it’s also the only thing that allows progress. Think about it. You cannot improve what you refuse to release. You can’t get feedback from clients on a project that you never ship. And without that feedback, you can’t make it better. The safety of staying unfinished and the possibility of actually moving forwards, they’re sitting on opposite sides of the same decision. Here’s what’s really underneath all of this, and it does run directly against the unconscious shortcut that we mentioned at the top of the episode. The only real failure is not doing it.
That’s the only real failure. Everything that you make will have flaws. I know, it sucks, right? You are human, just like every one of the rest of us. Everything you make will have flaws. That’s life. That’s not a risk that you’re managing by refusing to release, by refusing to finish as simply the nature of anything that anyone has ever created. There will be flaws, but those flaws can be revised, adjusted and improved once the work exists in the world. What can’t happen is improvement on something that never gets released in the first place.
You can’t revise a manuscript that nobody’s read. You can’t refine a project that nobody gets to see. Done equals failure. That’s the shortcut running in our subconscious. But the reality is closer to the opposite. Undone is the actual failure, because undone forecloses every possibility that finishing would have opened up. By remaining undone, you keep closed every possible thing that could have been created by releasing it. There is a more useful way to think about what done actually means, and it isn’t the concrete, permanent verdict that the unconscious shortcut suggests.
Done can simply mean this. Here’s the best I can create right now with the resources that I currently have. Have. That’s an important thing here When. When we’re done. Here is the best I can create right now with the resources that I currently have. Let’s see how it goes. Let me know if there’s anything significant that needs attention.
There’s always room to build a better version later if it’s needed. For now, let’s use this and move forward. Isn’t that a much better Way to see it. It’s not resignation, it’s not lowering the bar. It’s an accurate description of how anything genuinely useful gets made. Nothing ships as a final, unchangeable object. Everything that has ever mattered, everything started off as a version that was good enough to release, and it got better from there on because it was released. Think about it.
You can’t improve, but you don’t release. You can’t get valuable feedback from clients and customers and peers on something that you keep hidden away. It’s the only way you’re going to be able to improve it, make it better, build upon it and help others is by releasing it. Whatever. Whatever state it’s in, releasing it is far more helpful than keeping it hidden away forever whilst you perfect it. Because you never will perfect it. That’s just life. Perfection is impossible.
Next time, in the next episode, we’re going to look at why the bar keeps rising the moment that you reach it. And we’re going to look at what that is actually protecting you from. That’s in episode 27, the moving goalposts. That’s coming up in the. In the next episode. But for now, here’s what I’d like you to think about this week with this episode. What have you been keeping unfinished? Just think carefully. What have you been keeping unfinished? And what would it cost you this year to release it exactly as it is right now? I know, it’s scary, right? It is scary.
Believe me. I have been there many times myself as well. The Overachievers Club, the way it looks now, significantly different from when I first released it a couple of years ago. But you know what? If I had sat on it for those two years, tweaking, refining, improving, I would not have had the opportunity to make all the significant improvements that I have made, because I wouldn’t have got the customer feedback, I wouldn’t have got insight to what people need from it, how they’re using it and how to make it better for them. I’ve had two years of that because I released it, and believe me, it was scary at the time, releasing it. But by releasing it, I’m able to make it better. I’m able to serve and help many, many other people. So have a think.
What’s something that you have been keeping unfinished and what would it cost you this year to release it exactly as it is right now? Scary. But think about it and really consider, really consider the implications of actually releasing it now, the people that will help. If today’s episode has resonated with you, and I hope it does, then it really would mean a lot to me personally if you left a review or a rating of it on your favourite platform. Wherever you’re catching this, it helps me to see how the show is helping people and it helps others to find the show. Do share it with someone who you think would benefit. And again, if you haven’t already hit, follow or subscribe, give us a like so that you are there for every episode. Now after this episode I invite you to head over to KeithBN.link/TOP. In there you can find this episode, you’ll find all the other episodes from the show.
Find this episode and within that you’ll find the show notes along with some additional resources that you might find useful, interesting and worth exploring. I’m Keith Blakemore-Noble, the Overachievers coach and I will be your guide as we explore a healthier way to succeed. Sam.
