Photo by Denis Cherkashin on Unsplash

Solve perfectionism with this mindset (nerdy but effective)

Hassan S. Ali

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“When will I know I’ve MADE IT?” I yelled to my career coach. This was a few years ago. I was frustrated and angsty after months of trying to advance my career, with roadblocks along the way.

“When will I know I’ve gotten there?” I followed up, desperately.

(I just want everything to be PERFECT, to feel “finished”, to no longer need development. O, show me the way to this hidden utopia, expensive career coach. I must find it!)

After a pause, she replied: “There’s no there there. You’re already there, now.”

Of course, this only riled me up even more. But eventually, the words of this career coach / human fortune cookie sunk in:

In life, there’s no such thing as being “done.” 🤯

“There is only the present, constantly.”

To quote the incredible memoir, “Not Fade Away” by Peter Barton. He writes: “The present moment is lived, and relived; written, and rewritten. Every previous version still inhabits it. There is only the present, constantly.”

Lexus’s tagline is: “The Pursuit of Perfection.” As perfectionists, we want to be the Lexus that just appears in someone’s driveway on Christmas, complete with a giant bow on top. Cut to end of commercial…

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Hassan S. Ali

I write comedy things. the ha & lol. Also a founding editor of Slackjaw on Medium.