Monday, August 29, 2022

Done is What's Important

I made a list.

I made a list before I went to run errands Saturday, and then I did what I often do, which is go to the stores, not check the list, get home, unpack, relax, and then inevitably realize the thing I forgot to buy because I didn't check the list.

Now sure, I should probably learn to check the list. 

Or accept that the joy of living in a city, in walkable distance of a number of stores, is that, I can and did just get the thing the next day. 

Because yes, process improvement is good, but also there are no grades for optimizing your shopping, and basically, I had planned to take a walk outside and listen to an audiobook anyway, so adding walking in the direction of a store wasn't a big shift. 

I don't usually consider myself a perfectionist, but I will sometimes find myself berating myself for not doing things efficiently and yes, efficiency is great. But here, the only one inconvenienced - if we could even call it that - was me. I still went for a walk. I still listened to my audiobook. And I got two more things purchased that I needed. The end result was fine. So who cares? 

One could argue, this many words later, that clearly I do. But part of what I've been trying to remind myself, is that sometimes optimization and efficiency can just take a break already. Done is what's important. And it got done.