Perfectionism is protectionism. If we never finish anything, we can always say we are working on it. The next time you get a small project, like the menu for the company picnic, try this exercise to break that habit. Don’t try it with your annual budget review, the designs for a new space shuttle, or your boss’s European schedule.
Decide how long you need to spend on it. Cut off one-quarter of that time. When three-quarters of the time is gone, review it. Finish it on time. Read it over once. Correct any errors. Let it go. We spend too much time “perfecting” things that don’t need or deserve the attention we give them. Redoing them five times “improves” things that don’t need fixing. Trust yourself to do it as right as you can the first time, allow yourself a once over, and be done with it.