When someone says they’re a perfectionist, it may sound like a strength: perfectionists won’t stop until the result is flawless.
In practice, it often leads to mediocre outcomes, because what ultimately matters is value for money. Real value is delivered by pragmatists who know how to strike the right balance between quality and effort.
At work, I’ve learned to always keep this in mind. It’s tempting to focus only on the product and ignore the resources spent, but in a business that’s indefensible. No customer wants to pay ten times more to move from a 7/10 to an 8/10 result.
At home, it’s harder to resist perfectionism because there’s no boss or customer pushing you to keep costs down. The price is paid with your own energy.
For me, that meant spending enormous amounts of time on housekeeping for years. But now, as a parent of young children who generate an exponentially growing amount of housework, that energy cost is starting to matter. I either end up exhausted or frustrated by the imperfect results.
I decided to treat housework more like my professional work and optimize for value for effort.
Downgrading my laundry workflow from a 7/10 to a 6/10 has already delivered great results. I stopped folding clothes and turning them from inside out to the right side out, saving roughly two thirds of the time. The end product is good enough — arguably even better, since there are fewer laundry queues piling up.
I’d encourage anyone to try the same approach at home. Figure out what the right value-for-effort balance is for your household, and start saving time where perfection adds little value.