WS#54 - Can optimizing for perfection get in the way of progress?

Week of 4/29/24

Last week, I wrote about some of the positive knock-on effects of changing your health and fitness. You can become a completely different person and change the way you live your life when working towards a health goal. I have yet to come across an individual who has made a major life change like this and has regretted who they have become and the habits they have formed. Today, I am going to talk about a path to try to avoid… seeking perfection.

Sometimes, when we try to achieve perfection, we can create harmful habits. Perfection is the enemy of progress and for individuals simply looking to gain some muscle, lose some fat, feel better, perform better and live a healthier life, making things perfect is the wrong way to go. This does not apply to professional bodybuilding, fitness competitors or athletes. There is an element of perfection that must be achieved in those professions and is outside the scope of this topic.

As I have discussed in the past, several things must happen to build muscle, lose fat, improve movement quality, feel better, perform better and be healthier. You need a recipe of consistency, adequate effort, calorie control, proper training quality, stress and sleep management to create results. To keep the results of your hard work, you need to be able to operate this way for a very long time, maybe the rest of your life. Would you be able to maintain perfection for your entire life?

An example of perfection would be eating an exact number of calories rather than shooting for a range that meets your needs. When using a food tracking app, a specific number of calories, protein, carb, and fat are provided. When I work with people using an app (which I recommend for many), I never ask them to get to the exact number. I usually recommend calories being within 200 of the target, and protein within 15g. I do not give a range for carbs and fats because if you nail the calories and protein within these parameters, then they will take care of themselves. This allows the individual some flexibility, space to learn their habits, and build new ones without too much pressure. The constant effort and oversight it would take to be perfect would create unnecessary pressure and eventually lead to failure. I have seen it happen.

Perfection can also alienate you. Think about your spouse or the individuals with whom you spend most of your time. If you are constantly trying to be perfect in all the things you do, there are scenarios where that behavior can lead to frustration from these people and lead you down the wrong path. It is important to consider these people. Maybe you could be perfect forever, but what would that do to your relationships?

Instead of perfection, I find it useful to think of everything in ranges. There is a lower and upper bound to the number of calories you can consume for your goals. The same applies to training as you can over and under train. You can view goal setting through the same lens. If you set your target for a specific bodyweight rather than a range, you leave yourself little to no wiggle room for success. Live within these ranges and the wiggle room will give you enough freedom to have a chance at consistency. Strive for perfection and you likely lead yourself down a path to disappointment.

-Matt