Imperfect Action

What is imperfect action? Why is it important and why should we do it?

We (I) tend to think that once I feel inspired or once my spreadsheet of content ideas is perfect or when I finally feel “ready”, THEN it’ll be a good time to do x,y or z. But what I’ve been learning in life is this: perfectionism is just another form of self-sabotage.

Waiting for some detail to be a certain way is just another way of stalling forward movement. We think that inspiration will create action will create momentum, but it’s actually the opposite. Action creates momentum creates inspiration. We want to put the cart before the horse and then blame the cart for not moving.

So, what does imperfect action look like? Great question, self! Imperfect action looks like publishing this blog post even though I’m not yet fully sure of how to optimize this website. It looks like posting often on social media even though I’m still not clear on who my “ideal client avatar” is.

On an even bigger scale, it looked like quitting a full time job that was toxic to my health and trusting myself to figure it out. I’m obviously still working on the figuring it out part.

It looks like loving fully and completely even though the relationship might end and then choosing to end the relationship even though it means being alone again. It means saying yes to opportunities that scare the LIVING shit out of me and then buckling down and figuring it out.

It’s so much easier to not do anything. Comfort is an easy drug to get addicted to. It’s tempting to give up and look for some job and have a life that looks a little bit more “normal”. It sure seems a lot simpler to have a couple drinks every night to quell the stress and anxiety of EVERYTHING.

We’ve all heard the concept of easy now, hard later or hard now easy later. We have the opportunity to choose our hard, will it be now or will it be later. Society would have us believe that we owe ourselves instant gratification, but without a doubt, that would not create an easier life later.

So why is it important that we take imperfect action? I love thinking about this question. I think I will venture to say, it depends on your life goals. Maybe you don’t mind living a life prescribed by an unloving economic system that doesn’t care about your optimization. Or perhaps you prefer comfort over growth. I’ve totally been there and I get it. But I promise you, it gets old.

We are meant for more than working for someone else for 40 years and then having a brief retirement in comparison and then dying. Or, at least — I know I am.

That’s why imperfect action is important to me. Because I want to wake up every morning and go to sleep every day knowing that I am fulfilling my higher purpose. Because I want my daughter to look at me and see a person who is not settling for the common path of least resistance.

Because, in the words of Thoreau: “I want to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life” and when I die, know I did all that I could.

This is why we should take imperfect action: because the cost of sitting still and comfortable is far greater. We won’t know unless we try. Yes, there will be failure and YES I might look silly. But I have to live with myself. I have to go to sleep knowing the decisions I made that day.

Is being proud of a life well lived worth looking a little silly to others who are likely not taking risks? To me, abso-fukin-lutely.

So, think on this: what do you want? What do you want to die knowing that you did? Who do you want to be?

Figure it out. Go do it. Go be it.