Everyday Systems: nosdiet: message 2449 of 3212

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Val, Deb, and others-

About the "perfectionist" thread... sometimes perfectionism is
necessary, other times it is harmful. 

Debbie's case of singing is a case where perfectionism is necessary. 
In that case, would you rather have a lousy singer in the group that
ruins the whole show, or have that singer not sing at all? I'd say
that the director would rather you not sing at all than give it a
half-hearted effort, and that's probably why she said so.

A more dramatic example might be a surgeon that performs lasik... if
that opertaion is messed that up, the patient could go blind. That is
much worse not doing the surgery at all (having to wear glasses is
better than being blind.)

Now, losing weight is a totally different scenario. This is a case
where doing something, even if it is less than perfect, is better than
doing nothing at all. If you cut out, say, seconds, but still eat
sweets, that's not perfect, but it's way better than having 3 plates
at the Chinese buffet.

Because of these two starkly different examples, that's why I always
get the heebie geebies when I hear phrases like, "If it's worth doing,
it's worth doing right" or "If it's worth doing, it's worth not 
doing
right", because these blanket statements are worthless - I can find
many examples that could prove either one wrong.

I'd say, simply ask yourself, given a task, if doing it,but not doing
it right is better than not doing it at all. For No-S, the answer to
me is that doing some of it is indeed much better than not doing it at
all.

Just my two cents (before taxes and inflation).

-N