Crassus wrote:
There will always be another 1%. You start the project at one ability level and by the time you are nearing completion of a challenging project, you have a greater ability. You look back at the project with your new greater ability and say hey, I could now do this entire thing better. You scrap it and start over with a new more challenging plan you are now prepared for. You near the completion and working on this new challenge has again increased your ability, why you could do this EVEN BETTER! The cycle will go on until you burn out. You have to just accept the standards you set for yourself, meet them and move on.
There's a lot of wisdom in that. Your description reminds me of Charles Babbage, who in spite of good funding never completed any of his brilliant computing machines (though some have been created postumously). And on reading about his eccentric nature, I rather suspect he had a touch of autism about him:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babbage#Eccentricities
Artie Shaw gave up the clarinet, despite being the most accomplished player of his day. His explanation was that, had he continued, his perfectionism would have killed him. Sometimes you just know that you'll destroy yourself if you get involved with a project, so it's easier not to begin, or to tear yourself out of it. Or maybe it's possible to learn to get 90% of the result with 10% of the effort. Do you say "I know what I'm like, so I'd best not get sucked in," or do you say "if I keep it in mind that I have this tendency to burn myself out, maybe I can learn to compromise" ?
10 Jul 2009, 1:02 am
