Sometimes ‘good enough’ is a lot better than taking any more time to improve on the task, project or situation. Here are ways to know when to let go.
Stop being a “fussy pants!” Striving to make everything perfect often gets in the way of getting things done, says Jason Womack, author of Your Best Just Got Better: Work Smarter, Think Bigger, Make More.
Here’s how to avoid holding onto a task, project or situation too long:
- Stop majoring in the minors. When you spend a lot of time on the tasks that are easy to do, you might convince yourself that bigger tasks are too hard or you don’t have enough time. Tip: Move through the low-hanging fruit quickly (think of things that don’t require perfection — email to co-workers, filing and planning a social event) and schedule time for bigger projects.
- Let email go. Email eats up a lot of time each day. Tip: Minimize that time by keeping messages short, using action verbs and making a call if a message will be longer than a few paragraphs.
- Leave meetings and conference calls. These often go on beyond a point where you’ll need to give or take information. Tip: Politely explain when you arrive at the meeting or join a conference call when you intend to leave.
- Impose your own deadlines. It’s easy to get distracted from the task at hand when the deadline is far off. Tip: Set your own deadline on how much you will accomplish each day, and tell people who interrupt, “I have a 3 p.m. deadline. Let’s arrange time to talk after that.”
