Friday Inspiration: Achievement or Completion

“The need for positive results is so much a part of our way of life, the attitude of the achiever is so fixed in us, that we scarcely can envision a different way of life. We stand in so peculiar a relationship to results that the products of our own hands bring about a confusion in us. We need to know, right away, whether they are good or bad; we need to know, to pin down, to decide, so that we will know how to feel. The fact of our lives is uncertainty, and we crave certainty. The fact of our lives is change, movement, and we long for ‘arriving.’” (The Work of Craft, Carla Needleman)

“The sneakiest obstacle to meeting your goals is not laziness, but perfectionism. We’re our own worst critics, and if it looks like we’re not going to do something right, we prefer not to do it at all. That’s why we’re most likely to quit on day two, “the day after perfect”—when our results almost always underper­form our aspirations.” (Finish: Give Yourself the Gift of Done, John Acuff)