Perfect is the enemy of good. Because perfecting anything takes time during which there is no value to be reaped. It is also a common cause of procrastination. Knowing how long the perfect outcome can take increases the inertia to get started. This can occupy precious mental real estate when it comes to routine repetitive chores.

How can we curb the perfectionist urge? One useful mental frame is to strictly time box the activity. This will naturally lead us to explore optimal approaches to reach a satisfactory less-than-perfect result. The lack of perfection can then be balanced by increasing frequency of repeating the activity.

In the long run, the net result of this compromise is always positive.