Perfectionism is Stopping Your From Getting Started

The task is easier than you think

Arlo Sanchez
2 min readJun 27, 2023

It’s currently day 2 of my Twitter detox.

  • No DMs
  • No Engaging
  • No Comments

So I can get my life on track and be more productive.

Today, I’ve been procrastinating writing my essay on How to Improve Quality Education.

I’d say to myself, “I’ll just do it later”

Now it’s 9pm and I’ve just realized… “this isn’t that hard”

In 5 minutes, I’ve literally:

  • followed the format of the sample essay
  • used ChatGPT

and I’m almost done.

I’ve put off a 5 minute task for the entire day because I thought it would take longer.

This made me realize how I ‘inflate’ the required effort to do something.

And since my perception is that it will take more time and energy, I put it off because the timing isn’t right.

But the timing will never be right.

The best time to start is now.

You’re overthinking it. The task you’re putting off right now isn’t that HARD.

It’s just that you THINK it’s hard.

But once you sit down, get started and realize “hey this is actually easy”, that’s when you realize how silly you were.

Stop trying to be perfect.

Start trying to be a self-starter.

Reduce the excess importance you’re putting on a task, and just start.

You’ll notice that it’s effortless, which is what you should be aiming for.

Aim to do things effortlessly and start doing your task now.

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