Let Go. What (or whom) did you let go of this year? Why?

In 2010, it was a person. In 2011, it was an idea. In 2012, it was a symbol represented by a person. In 2013, I let go fear. In 2014, I let go of humility (or the desire to appear humble).

This year, I let go of perfection.

What I mean by that is a personal desire to do the right thing, do the thing right. Yes, the latter is my design mantra: design the right thing, rather designing the thing right. But perfection is an unattainable goal. Because I want to be the best, to be the brightest, be the coolest. In an effort to do that, the fear of not reaching perfection settled in my veins, slowed all action, and locked me in one place. I procrastinated, I distracted myself (unintentionally), I made up stories to cover the imperfection.

What I understand now is the process to reaching my goals doesn’t have to be perfect. Nor does the end result. It’s the fact that I reached the goal matters to me. I will finish writing the book is quite different from I will finish writing the finest book of quality, well designed content. The addition of adjectives adds standards and requirements. When in the first goal, it’s simply the completion of an action.

Because I let go out of the perfection, I was able to accomplish more goals than I had in previous years. If failed, it didn’t matter, because I had tried. Failure is an option. But for the majority of the goals I had set for myself, because I tried, I still won.