Dear Matt,

I’m a perfectionist by nature. It’s part of being Japanese. But I’m frustrated as it takes me forever to get something done and put it out in the world for other people to enjoy and use. What is your opinion of perfectionism? Do you suffer from it?

Rui Sakamoto

Dear Rui,

There are five different ways I can instantly come up with to answer your question, but after I choose one way and tell you, I might feel that I should have also told you the other four, otherwise I didn’t do a perfect enough job answering you.

Oh well, here goes anyway.

Yesterday a client told me about creators whose primary focus is on the quality of something or the “perfection” of it versus those who focus on quantity. And guess what? Those who produce a larger quantity of something end up with far greater quality of that something than those who focused on quality alone.

When you focus on the quantity, the quality will go up organically and naturally without you being a perfectionista about it.

Matt Furey

A few years back I had a conversation with a man who told me he was, “Trying to keep up with the Joneses.”

I told him I didn’t think that was such a good idea.

“Why not keep up with yourself?” I said. “If the greatest athletes make themselves their greatest opponent, why not follow their lead?”

“What, you don’t think great athletes are competing against others?”

“Sure they are, but not completely. Competing against others isn’t their only measuring stick. They also use the most important measuring stick of them all, and that’s the one that tells you if you’re improving.”

“How’s that work?” he asked.

I said, “Well, if I used to run the 100-meter dash in 15 seconds, but over time I reduced my time to 14 seconds, then 12.5, then 10.8, and so on – isn’t that an accomplishment? Or should I only measure myself with Olympic Champion Usain Bolt, who ran the 100 in 9.58 seconds?”

“Uh, I never thought of it that way.”

“Most people haven’t, and that’s why they beat themselves up and tell themselves they’re no good,” I said.

“When did you first learn this?” he asked.

“My father first told me about when I was a college wrestler who desperately wanted to win. I didn’t get it. At all. But when I finally did, the weight of the world was lifted off my shoulders. I improved dramatically and victories over others got a whole lot easier. Then I forgot the lesson and had to relearn it. After I put it into play a second time, I didn’t need a third reminder.”

When I saw this man a few months later, there was something remarkably different about him. He was not only happier, he glowed.

“I’m doing much, much better,” he said. “I stopped comparing myself to the billionaires and focused on getting a little better each day in some small way. And it’s made a huge difference.”

Note that this man didn’t say he got “a lot” better each day. He focused on micro-improvements, which over time added up in a big way.

The other key words he used, “in some small way” are monumental game changers.

You cannot improve in some small way in everything each day.

A track star cannot run faster each time he trains or competes. But he or she can improve in other ways as there are always several important factors that go into the mix, and when you combine them they make the cake better.

If you don’t have a second measuring stick operating in your life yet – get one today. It doesn’t cost anything, and the payoff is huge.

Matt Furey

Recommendations:

Zero Resistance Living – the advanced course in Psycho-Cybernetics

Psycho-Cybernetics, Updated and Expanded – the classic 35-million copies best-seller

Psycho-Cybernetics 365 – a detailed daily exploration of the Psycho-Cybernetics classic by yours truly

Theatre of the Mind – my highly recommended audiobook on Audible – published by Nightingale-Conant

Dear Matt,

Got any words of wisdom for me today? Life is not going well for me. My car broke down. My A.C. needs to be replaced. And my boss even wants to fire me for talking too much when I should be, in his words, “Doing my job.” Everything is going south, including me. What can I do to turn things around?

Phil Abustah

Dear Phil,

In Psycho-Cybernetics Dr. Maltz warned about being overly-inhibited, of being afraid to speak up and make a mistake. This is for people who hold themselves back.

In your case, you could probably use a healthy dose of Inhibitchin.’ That would be the steadfast refusal to bitch, whine, moan and complain when keeping your mouth shut and having a smile-off would do you and others far more good.

Matt Furey

Yesterday I spoke with a man, Brian, who many years ago, had a goal to become a private pilot.

Brian had severe doubts about whether he could learn how to fly a plane. So he did something unusual to change the mental picture he had of himself.

He began to imagine that he used to know how to fly a plane, but forgot how due to amnesia.

So every day before training Brian would imagine what he used to know but had lost. Instead of having to learn something new that he perceived to be out of his league, in his imagination he was only relearning what he once had.

At the end of the pilot training, Brian’s instructor informed him that he was the best student he ever had. He aced the course and got his pilot’s license.

Brian focused on changing the picture that was flying around in his mind. And this change in imagery and scenery gave him “the wings” that led to his accomplishment.

Is there something you’re imagining you cannot do?

What would happen if you imagined you used to know how to do it – but forgot?

Now all you have to do is remember again.

Play around with this and see what wings you can come up with.

Matt Furey

P.S. For those of you who are writers or creators, or want to become one, I’m having a Zen Zone Zero Resistance Writing Intensive fairly soon. Interested? Send an email to: mattfurey@mac.com – I’ll have more information for you by tomorrow.