Amanda's Perfection Paralysis
Amanda’s TO DO Lists
September 15, 2011
Do invoices
Pay tutors
Finish feedback
Write blog for ERG
October 1, 2011
Staff development activity
Prep for ERG meeting
Bank deposits
Finish schedules
Write blog for ERG
November 18, 2011
Reschedule dates for 2 schools
Contact principal about new project
Make list for Thanksgiving
Write blog for ERG
January 1, 2012
Write 2012 goals
Begin planning for 1/27 ERG meeting
Write blog for ERG
Does anybody notice a pattern here? That’s right. I’m not exactly getting to that “write blog for ERG” item. I kept putting it off because I suffer from something I call “perfection paralysis”. I worry so much about getting things perfect that I sometimes don’t do them at all.
This doesn’t make much sense does it? Because any attempt is better than no attempt. I can tell myself that…but making myself jump in and do it, well that’s another thing. Luckily, I work with some amazing mentors who finally said, “Just do it. Give yourself a deadline and just give it a try. We can help you.”
So here it is – my “just give it a try” blog.
But as I was thinking about what to write about I realized my not wanting to write for fear of imperfection was the perfect topic because I think it’s relevant to the practice of teaching.
Doesn’t this happen to us as teachers all the time? We learn something new but we hesitate to implement it because it may not be “perfect”. We’ve been thinking about small group instruction but we don’t do it because the other students might not behave “perfectly”. We’ve been meaning to teach those new strategies but haven’t tried it because we don’t understand them “perfectly”. We want students to do more independent reading, but haven’t started because it may not go “perfectly”.
When we really, really think about it do we even know what “perfection” looks like? Can we ever achieve it? In a word—NO! Merriam Webster defines “perfection” as the “absence of faults or flaws” and nothing meets that standard.
So if there is something you want to try that is going to help your students, quit worrying about “perfection”. You aren’t going to achieve that anyway. Do a “just give it a try” lesson. Maybe you’ll learn what I did—no, it wasn’t perfect, but it sure was fun!