Last week, my newsletter was a day late. This happened because I was chasing perfection—and in doing so, I realized that there is both a benefit and cost to pursuing it. You can tell I’m not a perfectionist: a previous article talks about perfection, and that it’s not the most useful standard. This time, it’s about the cost and the benefits…

Here is what happened: I thought that the newsletter was ready and scheduled it to be automatically emailed out at 9 am Eastern Time the following day. However, when I checked it again the following morning, I realized there was a minor mistake in the email: I had referenced a past article and forgotten to hyperlink the title to the actual article. Nothing big—but it bothered me, and I wanted to get it right. Since the email automation date and time were already set up, I had to cancel it before correcting the mistake. I hadn’t done this before and underestimated how long this little corruption would take—I ended up spending three hours on this correction. In fact, the time it took to correct the error took me past the scheduled send time of the original message. This meant that the email wouldn’t go out until the following day. If I wanted the email to be sent on its “regular day,” I would have to set the automation up again—and cancel the sending of the message yet another time. Another three hours to do it . . . but maybe I’d be faster the second time? This is when I stopped myself.

I became acutely aware that there was not just a benefit to my pursuit of perfection but also a cost. (Before we go further, let me make it clear that I am not claiming to be anywhere near perfect. But I sometimes try to pursue it.)

The benefit was related to quality, consistency, and reliability whereas the cost was linked to time and what I failed to accomplish. So, what’s more important?

Here’s a measuring stick to help you with the decision: figure out what has a real impact and what is just in your head. I realized that a lot of my drive to get fix this error was due to my preoccupation with perfection. Two more things I noticed: I tend to overrate considerations that are about me (instead of about others) and I underrate considerations that involve what is not getting done.

That’s when I let it go and allowed the email to be late.

Take the next step

When you’re confronted with the desire to get something perfect (or take the quality up another notch), ask yourself what the costs and benefits are. What would you be missing out on? What would be the real impact? What is about you and what is about others?