Do you struggle with being a perfectionist? If so, here is a strategy that can help you overcome it immediately.

But first, what is perfectionism? It is the tendency to get paralyzed by the idea that your work is never good enough. Perfectionists imagine there is a standard out there and they can never reach it. They have convinced themselves that they will be an utter failure unless they reach that unreachable standard. Therefore, they never take action and instead live in a perpetual state of frustration.

Now, for the strategy. If you think of yourself as a perfectionist, you are always shooting for A-level work. The problem is that your definition of an A is so far above everyone else’s that it’s unreachable.

The key is to downgrade your standards a bit so that you are shooting for B-level work, maybe a B+ at best. You may think of this as lowering your standards, but remember that your standards are so unrealistically elevated, that your B is everyone else’s A.

So, make it your goal to do B-level writing. Most of us don’t have the capacity to be objective about our work anyway, so you must trust that your B is truly an A in everyone else’s eyes.

When you shoot for a B, you can get work done much more quickly, move on, and still be considered excellent in everyone else’s eyes.