GOOD NEWS: Imperfectionism Rules
Good News: An enewsletter for donors and nonprofits
on strategic planning, governance, fundraising, and executive leadership.
Imperfectionism Rules
At the start of this new year, I wish you a mindset and practice of imperfectionism. Here's why:
Like you, I know people who describe themselves as perfectionists. In addition to the pain they inflict on themselves and others from whom they impossibly impose perfection, I notice they are often the people who find themselves crippled with doubt and a lack of productivity where it matters most.
In the donor and nonprofit context, consider the board hoping for more site visits, launching a campaign or assessing its executive director. Or the organization seeking to meet with more donors, publish its first year-end report or annual appeal. Rather than accomplish any of these things, they may deliberate and delay with little to no progress. They may even blame others for their own inaction.
What to do?
Start Things
When in doubt, start something, even if it is small and seemingly insignificant. Want to meet with more current and prospective donors or grantees? Need to write a proposal or report? Start with a handful of appointments or just a few sentences. Sometimes we get paralyzed by the immensity of a task when conceived in the abstract - "cultivate and steward more donors," "do more site visits to build relationships with grantees" - so we do nothing until everything seems perfect. Which often means we continue to do nothing. Do important things "daily-ish," "weekly-ish," or "monthly-ish" and don't worry about maintaining long streaks. Try not to miss two or three days, weeks or months in a row of doing what matters most. Doing is a way to infect yourself and others with enthusiasm and knowledge. It is exactly how brain science tells us that new habits are formed and sustained.
Done Lists and To-Do Lists
Write done lists and to-do lists. Know that the former inspires feelings of accomplishment and possibility while the latter can suggest the ability to meet an infinite demand. Done lists position us to celebrate wins while to-do lists may leave us feeling like we've underachieved. At best, crossing off everything on our to-do list is an exercise in achieving zero debt. Take it as a given that we can not get through everything on our lists. Ever write something you've already done on your to-do list after the fact? That's creating a done list.
Rivers, Not Buckets
We've all heard about and probably created bucket lists for work and play. Ever growing lists of places to go, things to read, people to see, and accomplishments to log abound. The main issue with bucket lists, like the to-do list, is that they suggest we can complete an effectively infinite number of tasks. Instead of a bucket of infinite things to be collected, imagine a river of experiences floating by to be sampled. Such an adjustment biases the mind toward finitude, not infinitude - the overarching theme to all of these perspectives.
Finish Things
Just as starting things is important, so too is finishing. Understand that reality requires imperfection so don't let things linger until you think you are perfectly ready to complete something - because you never will be. Get your annual report out the door and don't criticize it or let others criticize until it's time to prepare for the next report. Make your grants as best you can and watch how over time you will learn to better recognize worthy grantees while honing an area of interest specific to you or your board. Finishing things requires a reckoning of tradeoffs and making tough choices. Confront the reality of your choices and move on. Seek to learn from each choice and complete endeavor. Resist the pleasant comfort that comes with not making choices. Accept the finitude of your possibilities.
All of these suggestions require confidence and courage since they can entail counter cultural beliefs and habits. Many business employers and even a lot of school people are the most likely to position those in their charge unproductively since many don't always prioritize nourishing people for the long term. So be brave. Think independently. And stand up for yourself when you need to.
Happy New Year and may your 2025 be full of imperfectionisms!
Stuff Steve Is Watching, Listening To, and Reading
Meditations for Mortals (59 minute watch)
"I was really going deep in that book (4,000 Weeks) into the idea that systems for getting on top of everything are not going to work because there is an infinite supply of stuff to be done. Attempts to feel totally secure about the future and unworried about what's coming next are not going to work because we as limited, finite humans do not have that gift. This book (Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts) comes from my own realization that I can have a really clear idea about how I want to live my life and the things I want to be doing and the way I want to be showing up for people in my life and just not actually do it. This book is still in the theme that we are so finite but it's really about how to cross the gap from knowing to actually doing. The word 'actually' appears quite a lot." Oliver Burkeman in conversation with Dan Pink, Family Action Network
Watch Here
21 Brutally Honest Lessons About Life (3 hour listen)
"Have you heard the story of the two pottery classes? One class is told that their only assignment for the semester is to come back with a perfect clay pot. The other class is told to produce the most total quantity of clay pots. At the end of the semester, the pots that came from the volume team, not only did they make more pots but the quality of all of their pots was better. This underlines the principle that volume negates luck. You can try to be lucky and make the one perfect thing but if you don't want to try to be lucky, you can just do so much work that you will brute force your way to figuring it out." Alex Hormozi, Modern Wisdom
Listen Here
Tripoli Bakery (3 minute read)
“It begins a few years after the family bought Tripoli Bakery in Lawrence in 1924, when the Great Depression hit. Things were dire in the neighborhood, then loaded with Italian immigrants. Rather than let his neighbors starve, Angelo Zappala started an IOU book to allow them to get fresh bread. This went on for years until the depression came to an end. When the neighborhood began recovering, Angelo did what he thought was the only decent thing. He opened the door to the giant bakery oven, threw the IOU book inside, and incinerated all the debt. People never forgot that gesture. The Zappala family — as well as the beloved bread they made — became an institution in this blue-collar city." The Boston Globe
Read Here
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Steve Filosa
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