Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
By Lynne Cazaly, Woodslane, $24.95.
The danger inherent in our pursuit of perfection is explored with some compelling insights.
Cazaly, an international keynote speaker, a master facilitator and the author of six books, believes it’s important to strive for excellence, quality and continuous improvement, but the pursuit of perfection is not.
Drawing from her experience working with leaders, business owners and individuals, Lynne shares the latest thinking, information and ideas on the problems of going for perfect. She says how caring less and being more ‘ish’ – which means somewhat, more or less, to some extent – is a more flexible, helpful and happier way to think and work.
Interesting concept: this book was written, using an ‘iterative approach’. That means, the first versions were made publicly available in 2018 in rough and unfinished form and seemed disorganised and imperfect.
“But it was through these early prototypes that ideas and thinking about perfectionism and the idea of ‘ish’ were made available to people who wanted to read about it. Readers provided feedback, comments and insights and I’m grateful to these early supporters who told me what they thought.”
This is the fifth iteration of the book.
“I could work endlessly on creating the best version of this book possible and only release it when it’s ‘finished’, which may be never – because things can always be improved. And that’s what a perfectionist might do. I’m a reformed perfectionist.”
By practicing ‘ish’, she’s worked in increments, received feedback and made updates. “Accepting the principle of ish in my life has made me more productive, successful, and less stressed. It’s not perfect. It can never be. Nothing can. But it’s available in all its ish-ness.”
Cazaly refers to resources, models and ways of thinking that can help you tackle perfectionism. Perfectionism can be a real pain!
Near enough is often good enough on the things that don’t matter as much as we think they do. ish shows you how to care less about more, and care more about less, adopting the practice of good enough to make so many things more wonderful, valuable and worthwhile. It’s in your hands now.
