Today’s thread is inspired by this week’s Rethink Book Club recommendation this week, Four Thousand Weeks: Time and How to Use It, by the brilliant Oliver Burkeman.
What’s one area of your life you’ve decided that you won’t expect any excellence or greatness? Something where you’ve decided to ‘strategically underachieve’?
As a compulsive overachiever, Burkeman’s idea of actively deciding which areas of your life you don’t expect, need, or want to achieve anything great sounds counterintuitive. But what he’s suggesting is so powerful: to create space or more focus on things that matter, we must give some things up. For example, I’m deliberately imperfect at ironing. Okay, I’m rubbish because I’d rather spend the time cooking nice meals for my family.
Once you grasp this idea of being deliberately imperfect, it’s a freeing and energizing experience.
So please share your act of deliberate imperfection – and, more importantly, reflect on why it matters to you.
I used to really hate painting my house because I put too pressure on the finish to be absolutely perfect. Every brushstroke. Every edge. Every small detail. It made the experience exhausting and unenjoyable. It made me reluctant to move onto the painting the next room (and the next, and the next....) as the whole process seemed so unappealing. I'm learning (it's a process!) to let go of 'perfection' and ask myself 'who will actually care about this besides you?' - it's been freeing. And after a few months, the paintbrushes have been picked up again. Watch this space!
I used to really hate painting my house because I put too pressure on the finish to be absolutely perfect. Every brushstroke. Every edge. Every small detail. It made the experience exhausting and unenjoyable. It made me reluctant to move onto the painting the next room (and the next, and the next....) as the whole process seemed so unappealing. I'm learning (it's a process!) to let go of 'perfection' and ask myself 'who will actually care about this besides you?' - it's been freeing. And after a few months, the paintbrushes have been picked up again. Watch this space!