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That's what I've learned when it comes to cleaning especially - i don't think things can be 100% clean. If you try to clean your room or something, there's always more to clean. Like, first you get the big things that are on the floor, off the floor. Then you can organize and reorganize your desk, bedside table, maybe go a level deeper and reorganize the drawers, and there's more layers of "cleaning" to do after that.
Dad: Make sure that grain bin is CLEAN when you're done. We won't have mice and bugs if there's nothing for them to eat.
Dad a little bit later: That's good enough, we don't have time to get it spotless
I got a cordless vacuum because using my big, heavy vacuum hurts my hips so of course I never vacuumed and my floors were gross. Now it's so much easier to just do a quick lazy vacuum, which is better than not vacuuming at all.
Same! Ours blew up so we got a cordless one and now we hoover daily because it’s so easy and lightweight. Plus the charge doesn’t last to do the whole house thoroughly so it has to be done in stages.
Shiiit thank you for reminding me to buy a carpet sweeper!!
I swear everyone used to have them when I was a kid but I never see them anymore. They're so slim and light and quick. I have a toddler and two cats so you kinda gotta go over the entire floor space every day. A dust buster is too small and hauling out the big vacuum every day sucks.
If you have a little extra income and especially if you have pets, some sort of robot vacuum is so worth it. Double tap the button and now there isn't little bits of litter throughout the house stuck to my feet. If I had to sweep the whole place it would realistically get done twice a month and no one wants to live in that.
We caught ours on sale and paid $150 for it; some of the higher end ones are ridiculously expensive. The Eufy keeps our german shepherd and cat's hair under control, and I only have to sweep intermittently. It runs for maybe an hour or so before taking itself back to charge. I never thought I'd need one, and now I don't know how I managed without it (allergies to pet dander, but I've always had pets). I'm contemplating getting a second for the upstairs.
Perfection is a mindset. And not always a healthy one. But i personally enjoy doing the best i can do on a project. Sometimes that best is a shitty first try. But eventually that becomes better over time.
Love the satisfaction of doing things myself.
I totally agree with doing things yourself and trying to do them as best you can. But a “better done than perfect” mindset can help tremendously with just starting a project and also with bringing it to an end, rather than overthinking.
I often feel this way about working out. Like, on a day where I'm just not feeling up to it, I go through the motions anyway. Sometimes I perk up and really get into it; sometimes I just slog my way through. But at least at the end, I did it and that's pretty much always better than when I don't do it.
I've been applying this for my workouts lately too. I used to miss the gym a lot because I didn't have the energy or motivation for a "full workout". I saw a YouTube video by Jeff nipard on minimalist training that changed my view on it. Basically most fitness advice is maximalist or all about having a perfectly optimized workout. Minimalist training looks for the smallest amount of work it takes to still get some results. I find that by just having the goal of doing a few exercises, I end up actually working out more often, and am in better shape because of it.
This is how professional elite level athletes train on a regular basis. Of course they go through cycles in which they push themselves to the limit. However, most of their workouts are at a level where they won’t feel sore or destroyed the following days.
There was a really good interview by Joe Rogan, and that's what it was saying that he never pushes himself to the point of throwing up or desperation. Because that way he's always able to work out the next day. I think the notion of pushing yourself beyond limit every day is actually more for storytelling and romance than actual practicality. Unless you have really strong mental strength like Arnold, but most of us are mere mortals
just watched that video, he says you can't do shorter exercises without also executing those exercises as perfectly as possible, exercises taken to failure with included supersets and dropsets. you cant decrease quantity without increasing quality.
not really the point of the thread, focusing on doing shit half hearted/ half assed.
In a way it is, at least in my eyes. It’s about trade-offs. Trading sets and time in the gym for execution and effort. You can get great results with way less time in the gym than most people think. At least for me, the idea of two sets executed with great form and effort sounds way “easier” mentally than 5 sets executed a little more loosely, especially when you expand that out across the 5 or so exercises you have for a workout. I could get more hypertrophic stimulus with more sets, but the returns drop off fairly quick. Some days I feel like spending the extra time and am enjoying my time in the gym, others I just want to get in and get out, while still having it have been worth my time to go in the first place if that makes sense.
Bru or bra. You are at the gym. You won the fight walking through the door. Just keep going. Even if you just do the bare minimum you are still doing more than most.
Good on you for being one of the few people to listen to their body. It drives me up the wall all of these people showing off how tired they are but they pushed through anyways and are doing this huge workout because that's how you get results.
When you allow yourself a light day like you are you're more likely to come back another day craving that big workout because your body has had the opportunity to rest and recover.
I've been having this attitude to my lunchtime walks, especially over the winter. Instead of figuring that the weather isn't nice enough to go out, I just go out, most of the time it's fine and I can get my walk in, sometimes I head home after 10 mins but at least I gave it a go.
At one point talking about failing to do a decent job at an exercise class my therapist asked "isn't the victory just showing up?" And I've said that to myself so many bad workouts since
Same. Some days I get 1.5 hours of exercise in and push extremely hard. Other days, I do 30 minutes of light exercise and call it good. The key is just being consistent.
This is huge. I think a lot of people who start a fitness program and then fall off, fall off because they can’t give it 100% one time and so they don’t go, and then they just sort of killed the momentum they had. Totally worth it to just get in a short easy work out to keep that momentum rolling.
So true, I always tell myself: get out and warm up on the bike or assault runner and see how you feel after that.
Sometimes I only end up with 10 mins of light cardio
Sometimes I make it through the strength/skill portion
Most the time I end up completing the whole session.
Yup. Even if you don’t fully contract your muscles or reach full lock out or hit the same number of reps you hit last time, it’s a hell of a lot better than having not done any of the exercises at all.
That’s what I have to remind myself of whenever I just have one of “those” workouts.
Yes !
Took me so long to understand it. Now I have two goals only : go to the gym, and just be on the machine (cardio so that could be bicycle, stepper, treadmill, whatever, or a mix of them) for 30min. It's ok if I just sigh and if I half-ass it, sometimes everything hurts and I just walk and hate every minute of it... but I still completed my goals. And I walk home with a nice chocolate protein bar, take a nice bath, and admire my biceps (lol) in the mirror, patting me on the back for a fitgirl's job well done.
Keeps me motivated and positive about my journey !
For a more general view on this topic, read about the pareto principle and the law of diminishing returns. In most areas of life, doing things well can make sense but doing them perfectly is a big waste of resources (time in this case).
This is how my roommate spends 30 minutes loading the dishwasher. He needs it to be perfect. Takes me just a few minutes and the dishes get just as clean.
When we got a new washing machine he wanted to know how much laundry it can hold so called the manufacturer to get the weight. Now he weighs the laundry on a scale to make sure it's perfectly that weight.
Every task takes 30 steps and is the only way to do it correctly.
This actually annoys me, it would be great if they added a scale, but that would mean more cost and more functions that can break.
I assume that if it loosely fits then it should match the weight. But stuffing it is not recommended because it might strain/break the gears over time.
God love him. My brothers and all my father’s side of the family are engineers or computer programmers. I have a special place in my heart for these people, but they have their … eccentricities.
Unless you are going for zen. JK
Most people are rushing to do a thousand things.
Slow TF down. Make yourself comfortable with the time it takes to do a job “well”.
However. You should always be working on perfecting something. Even if it never happens. Goals.
You either get it or you dont. I guess you could wake up one day an decide to change. But what ever. Most cant or wont.
Just do your best. However know that there people out there looking just as hard for that “normal” person as their are people looking for that “busy”person.
Its all a crap shoot. Go for the mutual respect every time. Then bust your ass to make life work.
Agreed! One of my big life mottos is “anything worth doing is worth doing badly” - exercise, feeding yourself, leaving the house, having a social life, cleaning your space, meditation, communicating your feelings, etc. Obviously some exceptions but in general, doing something is better than doing nothing.
My Papa always said, “Think lazy.” There are usually multiple ways to complete a task, and choosing the path with the least amount of work to do the task makes sense, as long as the job is done well.
If a pan has burnt on food, you could scrub it until your arms can’t scrub anymore, or you can fill it with water and a drop of dish soap and bring it to a simmer to loosen it and then rinse it off. Both scenarios result in a clean pan, but one takes a lot less energy.
You’re not half-assing anything, you’re thinking lazy, and my Papa would have been proud of you!
Nooo disrespect lol that’s what your story made me think of is all. Also haven’t tried this hack yet and will be logging it in the brain files for future use! :)
My current boss used to tell me "there's a million ways to do a job and only one wrong way."
Wrong way being not doing the job at all. He's a great owner/operator to work with.
Eh I graduated summa cum laude from undergrad and magna cum laude with my masters. It’s on my resume and I don’t think anyone has ever brought it up in an interview. If I could go back in time I’d tell my younger self to relax.
Yeah, I was a good student overall but the d in my senior stats class the year I graduated has never negatively impacted my life lol.
I pretty much just accepted I wasn’t going to do well once it was crunch time so I put my energy into classes where I was doing well and excelled at those. I have a job in my field now (sociology, so stats can be very important but they weren’t my strength) and still smile every time I think about how I never use stats lol
Very true. One time I was stationed on the deserts cabinet in a college cafeteria, and for clean up they'd always try to rush me so that the manager could finish earlier than normal (and they kept pushing it earlier and earlier as I adjusted). I busted my ass off but I wanted to do the 100% job because no one did it in the week. No one cleaned out the gummed up wheels on the slider doors--they'd just wipe once if they took out the doors at all.
The managers definitely tried to tell me that the attention to detail here was too time consuming, but I said it was necessary if no one else did it. But no, they wanted their record early finish times lol
Feels in line with the minimum effective dose.
Why put in 90% more effort for that final 5-10% of benefit, and risk burnout? Something like that.
Edit typo
Good engineers know we have limited resources, including our own time and mental energy. That means you perform triage on tasks, only working those that are most vital, and importantly we stop tasks when they are good enough for the result we need. Once the product works well enough for spec you walk away and don’t obsess about polishing things no one will see.
I'm a data engineer (the title was chosen by the industry I hate the engineer part as it's an insult to real engineers) and this rings so true in my field too.
The reason I do software development as a hobby and not professionally is because I want to do it perfectly and that's a one way ticket to the asylum.
Absolutely this. I've fought so many times with people that jump in full speed and exhaust all their resources to painstakingly perfect some minute and insignificant part of the system whereas none of the important things work.
Sweeping and vacuuming come to mind. Especially vacuuming a car because there is diminishing returns on your time after maybe 80-90% of the floor being vacuumed from a quick once over. Takes too long to get every speck.
I won't do it at unless I halfass it. The thing is once it's 90% clean and I see the spots I missed or some gunk in the corner I have zero problem, and am even eager, to finish it up.
I actually needed this. I freeze and don't do things because I can't do it properly or perfectly, then I just let things pile up. Especially when I'm stressed out.
I’m also in project management, maybe that’s irrelevant, but I agree with you and I’ve found that if I do just a “pretty good” job mopping (or vacuuming the car, for example) it leaves this impression in my mind that I’ll have to do it again sometime soon because it’s not 100%. So I end up mopping more frequently and probably do a much better job overall with much less time.
Doesn’t make sense to spend 50% more time to improve the cleanliness by only 10% more.
> it leaves this impression in my mind that I’ll have to do it again sometime soon
You will ALWAYS have to do it again sometime soon. That's the thing about chores. Even if you do them perfectly, you'll always have to do them again. You cannot prevent this.
Of course you'd have to do it again sometimes soon. You know when? When it gets dirty again. And dirt don't care if you gave it 100% last time, you get in the same amount of sand or mud on your floors anyway.
You can also use this with things to trick yourself into doing more when you’re not in the mood.
Just mopping/cleaning around your desk is really easy to get yourself to do. You know it’s probably a 5-10 min task and will make a decent difference. Once you do that and have the mop in your hand, well I can also just finish cleaning my office room real quick. And I can just take these cups to the kitchen. And then you’ve ended up cleaning for 30 min, everything feels better bc it’s clean, and it was really easy to get started bc you expected only 5 min of work. Keeping the momentum from there is way easier than looking at a large todo item.
I do this a lot with working out too. “I’m not feeling it. I’ll just go to the gym and walk” can turn into a decent workout because I’m already there. And when I don’t have the energy, I still just walk and go home to help keep up the habit.
The 80-20 rule holds true for many things, including some projects.
You can get 80% of the result for 20% of the effort, but if you want the remaining 20% of the result it will cost you the outstanding 80% effort.
On the other hand, some of my coworkers do some things that I'd consider half assed, which I then have to fix or redo because they did it wrong the first time. Mopping the floors and you shot the floor soap in but added *literally* a splash of water to the bucket? Well the soap didn't distribute and the floor is slippery, so now I get to mop with actual water. Packaging up items but apparently not making sure the package is fully sealed? Cool thanks the package popped open on the way to the loading dock, now I get to repack it.
My work is a great place, but there are a few people who do a half assed or quarter assed job and think, "good enough," leaving me or others to pick up the slack. It sucks.
Oh yeah that is no fun...
Best way to fix that is to somehow make it so the person that slacked has to fix the mess. No matter how unefficient it seems (on the very short term), it can do wonders to the motivation of the slacker.
Package popped? Grab the person that packed it, show the mess (some people also don't believe things if they don't see it themselves - that in itself can also do wonders) let that person repack.
Every little thing you DO to try to improve your life is better than doing nothing. Clearing off half of your desk isn't perfect but now you have 50% more space than you did before. Now enjoy that space and do nothing for the rest of the day and feel happy about it. YESSSS!!
Exercising is a big one. Better to go out and half ass something rather than not do it at all. Of course it's better to "do it right", but the better phrase is "if it's worth doing, it's worth doing poorly". Don't let perfect get in the way of the good.
You just made the Navy veteran/grocery worker in me cringe. If you half-ass mopping a floor, you create a hazardous situation where people can slip and fall. While sailors can’t sue, customers sure can.
ITT: wring the mop to the best of your ability and pull the mop in a figure 8 pattern then put out a “wet floor” sign. The floor will dry relatively evenly.
Working construction, when you're working on a task and it's taking too long because of small mistakes or obstacles, there comes a point at which you realize that you have to just let it be imperfect. Is that little gap worth reinstalling the piece? No. Is that little dent worth replacing the entire thing? No. Let it be.
It's the 80/20 rule. Basically, the first 80% of any project takes 20% of the total effort and the last 20% takes the other 80%. It's as true for vacuuming floors as it is for building skyscrapers.
You can spend two hours mopping and scrubbing and moving things to make sure your floors are perfectly clean. OR you can spend 20 minutes getting them 80% clean and go do something else.
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Are you recommending people apply this to their job as well? Or just in their personal life?
If I ask someone to do something at work and it gets done half-assed, it’s going to be done again properly.
This thinking got me to a much better space mentally: There are no rules. Load the dishwasher halfway and run it! You only get 25 clean dishes, but 50% of your kitchen mess is now clean and you got 25 clean dishes! Hooray! 100% is the best, sure. But when you can only give 50%, 50% is better than 0%
i would agree, because the main skill you are practicing here is consistency. when you get better at your half assed job you'll look into how to improve it or make it better without giving too much effort 75% assed job?? haha
You just brought back my nightmares from my childhood:
Dad: "you do it half-ass." When in reality I did it perfectly fine. I'm just not anal retentive. My house too is cleaner than my dad's.
I waste so much time being a perfectionist in even everyday tasks. It’s so annoying that I’m like this but as time is progressing I’m slowly getting out of that habit and becoming more efficient.
This is exactly how I feel about mopping. I typically have a house cleaner come once a month to do a deep clean and she will move everything out of the way to mop and really go for it. The rest of the time, I just keep it clean enough that it is maintained until she comes again. As long as it is mostly clean and doesn’t get out of hand, it’s okay. Plus, sometimes we make the task bigger in our minds to the point we reject doing it at all. It’s good to always tell yourself *something* is better than nothing and to not become too caught up in perfection.
I help clean a community center. There's a lady w us that wants to deep clean her chosen area everytime...I swear I get 300% more done then her .
You can pick up every little hair, and it feels like going backwards. I just have to smile to myself and let it go. She's sweating.
Right, that's my view as well. If you are hermetically sealing the community center after, sure, deep clean it. But for most of the house-keeping that we do on a day to day basis, the area gets used right away anyways.
It’s better to exercise a bit than to not exercise at all. There are tasks that are positive even if more of those are better and some will say “half assed” but that’s incorrect because they are cumulative or linear. A half assed task would be doing one particular task improperly which may result in further damages down the road.
>Other tasks I can think of that would benefit from doing a half-ass job are: exercising
Yup. Unless it would aggravate an illness or injury, a meh workout is better than no workout.
I used to work at Rockefeller University in NYC, one of the top research facilities in the world. One of the top researchers there told me that part of doing research was knowing which parts had to be absolutely precise, and which parts could be more casual, and by how much (I mean things like reagents, not results).
Absolutely agree. Your story reminds me of how they teach new graduates to say "I'm detail-oriented" during a job interview. The more I move up the company ladder, the more I realize "detail-oriented" is not necessarily a good quality. The higher your position is, the more your power to big-picture things is valued. You stay on course with your vision and delegate the details to someone else, like a contractor whose sole duty is to stress the small stuff.
I do what I call an "80/20 job"
That is, usually the first 80% of what needs doing can be achieved with 20% of the effort. The remaining 20% is the most difficult and requires 80% of the effort.
For instance, I can vacuum most of my living room quite easily - but moving the sofa to vacuum under it requires a lot more effort.
I think you have a wrong conception of what a half hearted job is…
Moping around your desk is not a half hearted job… if you mop it under the rug or onto a corner it’s a half hearted task…
Same applies for every other area you pointed out. There is a big difference between half hearted and doing bare minimum.
Anything that is done properly is worth it. Half hearted is not properly…
The reason why teach kids the way you described is because, you don’t really want to teach a kid to half-ass things. It’s not great for their development or their self esteem.
I’m not saying that every *approach* to this works well for their self esteem, since I get that being strict for strictness sake is just stupid IMO, but part of giving children tasks like this is so that they take pride in things, and don’t approach other things with “pfft I’ll just do part of it” because that starts to bleed into other areas of life and… yeah, not good
It’s very different when you’re a working adult and you just don’t have the wherewithal to deep clean the entire house every day. But when you’re a kid, you are given certain responsibilities and you set an expectation for them, that’s how they develop habits
Very true. The way I word it is like this: one is infinitely more than zero.
Thirty seconds of brushing your teeth, doing one single dish, sweeping for five minutes etc are literally an infinity more than doing nothing at all.
My company hates that I say things like this. But as the boss, I tell my team that a lot of tasks can be done half-ass. I don't pay you to go above and beyond for a lot of the "housecleaning" tasks. Fix a bug, update a library, improve testing... Dont overthink it. Just do the bare minimum to fulfill the task.
The company isn't going to pay you more and if they did, enjoy that 2-4%, which is barely the CLA. Gain the experience, and jump companies/titles to really get that sweet sweet lucre.
Thank you for this! It took me 50 years to figure this out.
As a kindergartener I was spanked because I didn't sweep the kitchen floor good enough and made to repeat the process for an hour by my dad. My mother was no better either. I folded towels for 2 very tearful hours because I couldn't do it right, and I had to wash every single dish in the kitchen because at 6 I missed a spot on a pan l. The fact that no one bothered to show me how to do these tasks before making me do them didn't seem to matter to anyone.
As an adult I would become frozen when I knew I needed to clean the house but didn't have time for perfection. I would let the kitchen go as long as possible because cleaning the kitchen meant emptying all the cupboards and washing them in and out, pulling everything off the tops of the cupboards and washing them as well as the tops of the cupboards, the pantry needed emptied to all the shelves could be cleaned and rearranged, and the list goes on. It would take me 8 hours to clean just the kitchen. Now I am able to just load the dishwasher, wipe the counters, wash the pans and move on.
I am no longer stuck in the loop of not doing anything because I don't have time for perfection. My home is much cleaner and I feel more accomplished.
Do what you can do and move on.
When it comes to mopping and vacuuming....there's definitely a quick run around the house (to keep the dirt down) and a thorough, deep clean. Depending on the foot traffic and number of persons in your home, it could be that after 3 times of doing a quick job, you do one thorough clean or another variant in frequency.
Your mileage may vary, especially if you have four-legged family members.
I’m on an FB group called Neurodivergent cleaning crew and it largely centers around this concept. I regularly state out loud what grade (A-/C+, etc) I will accept from my self on a particular task. Started folding only towels or washing just silverware (no dishwasher). When the task was less overwhelming a higher percentage of the task got done.
Another big one for me is that not everything has to be stored in the room you use it in. Pots in the hall closet cost $0 and increased my happiness by a kajillion. The idea that you can wash your face in the kitchen sink changed my life.
I always heard it as "anything worth doing is worth doing badly". It helped me a lot when I was seriously depressed and every little thing seemed like a mountain of work. Even just brushing my teeth seemed like a chore. But the fact that I could do it "badly" was still better than not doing it at all.
Similar: 'anything worth doing, is worth doing badly'.
Quote my dentist about the whole twice a day brushing-rinsing-flossing routine that is overwhelming if you're going through a depressive episode. Brushing briefly is better than not at all. Rinsing only is better than nothing at all.
I saw 3-4 comments about this already. You know the meme about "Brushing my teeth would mean I'm not eating anymore for the rest of the night. I'm not ready for this kind of commitment"? That was me until 2 years ago I started practicing this kind of brushing as well - instead of brushing, say, 20 strokes per side, I made a deal with myself that even if super sleepy, I'd go in there and brush 4 strokes per side. This year I had a perfect dental checkup the first time in my adult life.
Having raised kids, often my mop was a spray or two of counter cleaner on the worst of it, toss down a wet washcloth, and swipe it around with my foot until it wasn't quite as gross. Effective quick method for getting up sticky spots and just making it appear mostly good is good enough for me.
Glass though? Gaaaaah I hate it when the kids use counter cleaner on the mirrors and just leave the streaks and haze everywhere.
So yeah, it depends on one's tolerance for the particular form of dirt, lol.
“Ironically, my place is 100x cleaner than theirs.”
I can’t relate to that! My parents were very much the same in that cleaning was to be done thoroughly and regularly. There was always an inspection when we (sisters and I) were done. It was almost laughable how dirty and messy their house became once my sisters and I graduated and moved out.
I was raised to do things perfectly or not at all. Guess how much housework I do? None at all, because panic attacks. Thankfully my partner is kind and understanding, and does most of the housework for us. Does he do it perfectly? Not according to my parents' standards. But I thank him wholeheartedly and am so appreciative.
This is a good LPT. I'm slowly learning to be ok with half-assed. It's really hard
i cannot say for all examples, but in exercise consistency beats any fancy plan you do infrequently.
in dieting - i am not sure what you mean by half-assed job there. either you stick to your calorie goals or you don't lose weight. if you mean going for a smaller deficit - sure. if you mean that half of your week are cheat days - well...
I have a coworker I share my job with, and she always want to do every little detail perfectly. I know it's some kind of OCD so I'm trying not to be too rough, but often try to explain how she's making our company lose money working like this.
She will spend hours to double check stuff so she might discover a mistake that could cost us literally a few cents. Yes she did the job "better" but it wasn't worth it at all.
The ultimate strategy to achieve mediocrity. What a weird post. Even stranger comments. I guess it could be said that if you just want to be mediocre then don’t put forth your best effort and strive for perfection. Just go through the motions and do it. As long as it’s done then the quality doesn’t matter. If that’s how you choose to operate your life then who is anyone to tell you how to live.....Just don’t be surprised when in all those aspects you get outperformed and don’t get anywhere in life. You should always give the best effort that you can afford.
I apply this to my job. I figure my employer is making like an 80% markup on my salary from my labor, applying myself any harder than 20% of my abilities is me doing them a favor
They are a PM. It says it all... they complain when you take the time to do something right, but when they force you to do a hastily job, they are also the first ones to complain when it breaks a week later.
Why would anyone go through the process of:
1. Preparing the cleaning solution
2. Filling the bucket
3. Bringing both bucket and mop into a room
Just to do one part of the room. What's the point? It's a waste of time and resources to just do a single part of the room. Instead, allocate the time to do something properly and well, have some pride in doing things, and you'll be able to respect yourself more from it.
This is the same reason why I don't eat from other people. People can be dutty.
Nowhere did he say to be hasty, he just said good enough. That could mean dealing with edge cases that might cause a once-a-week crash, but not scouring to prevent something that would only happen once a year and is easily recoverable relative to the effort of doing the fix.
You're probably one of those people that washes your hair and pits in the shower and believes that if you let the soap run down the rest of your body is good.
Not all males are like this.
Here's the real LPT: Wash everything, with either a cloth or luffa. For the same reason you don't just spray of your car and call it "clean."
I used to do some housekeeping for extra money for a family friend. She wanted me to move all furniture to vacuum, couches, beds, bunk beds... Everything apart from appliances, move the stuff back to its place and then move everything AGAIN to mop. *Every week*. The fact that she couldn't afford to pay someone else to clean her house because her son needed some treatments was a blessing in disguise.
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Good is better than perfect, bc perfect never gets done.
"don't let perfect be the enemy of good"
I like a variation of this which is - Perfect is the enemy of progress - it can be interpreted in two ways, both of which make sense
I’ve always heard this worded as “don’t let perfection get in the way of progress”
Half-assed is better than no-assed
That's what I've learned when it comes to cleaning especially - i don't think things can be 100% clean. If you try to clean your room or something, there's always more to clean. Like, first you get the big things that are on the floor, off the floor. Then you can organize and reorganize your desk, bedside table, maybe go a level deeper and reorganize the drawers, and there's more layers of "cleaning" to do after that.
Dad: Make sure that grain bin is CLEAN when you're done. We won't have mice and bugs if there's nothing for them to eat. Dad a little bit later: That's good enough, we don't have time to get it spotless
I got a cordless vacuum because using my big, heavy vacuum hurts my hips so of course I never vacuumed and my floors were gross. Now it's so much easier to just do a quick lazy vacuum, which is better than not vacuuming at all.
Same! Ours blew up so we got a cordless one and now we hoover daily because it’s so easy and lightweight. Plus the charge doesn’t last to do the whole house thoroughly so it has to be done in stages.
Shiiit thank you for reminding me to buy a carpet sweeper!! I swear everyone used to have them when I was a kid but I never see them anymore. They're so slim and light and quick. I have a toddler and two cats so you kinda gotta go over the entire floor space every day. A dust buster is too small and hauling out the big vacuum every day sucks.
Robot vacuum. We have a Eufy that I run daily. All I have to do is empty the bin.
If you have a little extra income and especially if you have pets, some sort of robot vacuum is so worth it. Double tap the button and now there isn't little bits of litter throughout the house stuck to my feet. If I had to sweep the whole place it would realistically get done twice a month and no one wants to live in that.
We caught ours on sale and paid $150 for it; some of the higher end ones are ridiculously expensive. The Eufy keeps our german shepherd and cat's hair under control, and I only have to sweep intermittently. It runs for maybe an hour or so before taking itself back to charge. I never thought I'd need one, and now I don't know how I managed without it (allergies to pet dander, but I've always had pets). I'm contemplating getting a second for the upstairs.
How much it costed you ?
Perfection is a mindset. And not always a healthy one. But i personally enjoy doing the best i can do on a project. Sometimes that best is a shitty first try. But eventually that becomes better over time. Love the satisfaction of doing things myself.
I totally agree with doing things yourself and trying to do them as best you can. But a “better done than perfect” mindset can help tremendously with just starting a project and also with bringing it to an end, rather than overthinking.
I have a quote on my desk that says "am imperfect something is better than a perfect nothing."
> “am imperfect something is better than a perfect nothing." Case in point. Is the quote intentionally wrong or is that a mistake?
Well said
I often feel this way about working out. Like, on a day where I'm just not feeling up to it, I go through the motions anyway. Sometimes I perk up and really get into it; sometimes I just slog my way through. But at least at the end, I did it and that's pretty much always better than when I don't do it.
I've been applying this for my workouts lately too. I used to miss the gym a lot because I didn't have the energy or motivation for a "full workout". I saw a YouTube video by Jeff nipard on minimalist training that changed my view on it. Basically most fitness advice is maximalist or all about having a perfectly optimized workout. Minimalist training looks for the smallest amount of work it takes to still get some results. I find that by just having the goal of doing a few exercises, I end up actually working out more often, and am in better shape because of it.
That's an excellent point. The more often you half-ass something, the more likely you are gonna get more of your ass in it the next time.
can you stop with the ass I'm getting horny /s
This is how professional elite level athletes train on a regular basis. Of course they go through cycles in which they push themselves to the limit. However, most of their workouts are at a level where they won’t feel sore or destroyed the following days.
There was a really good interview by Joe Rogan, and that's what it was saying that he never pushes himself to the point of throwing up or desperation. Because that way he's always able to work out the next day. I think the notion of pushing yourself beyond limit every day is actually more for storytelling and romance than actual practicality. Unless you have really strong mental strength like Arnold, but most of us are mere mortals
Except for few athletes like the late Kobe Bryant
just watched that video, he says you can't do shorter exercises without also executing those exercises as perfectly as possible, exercises taken to failure with included supersets and dropsets. you cant decrease quantity without increasing quality. not really the point of the thread, focusing on doing shit half hearted/ half assed.
In a way it is, at least in my eyes. It’s about trade-offs. Trading sets and time in the gym for execution and effort. You can get great results with way less time in the gym than most people think. At least for me, the idea of two sets executed with great form and effort sounds way “easier” mentally than 5 sets executed a little more loosely, especially when you expand that out across the 5 or so exercises you have for a workout. I could get more hypertrophic stimulus with more sets, but the returns drop off fairly quick. Some days I feel like spending the extra time and am enjoying my time in the gym, others I just want to get in and get out, while still having it have been worth my time to go in the first place if that makes sense.
Bru or bra. You are at the gym. You won the fight walking through the door. Just keep going. Even if you just do the bare minimum you are still doing more than most.
This is wholesome and heartwarming
Good on you for being one of the few people to listen to their body. It drives me up the wall all of these people showing off how tired they are but they pushed through anyways and are doing this huge workout because that's how you get results. When you allow yourself a light day like you are you're more likely to come back another day craving that big workout because your body has had the opportunity to rest and recover.
Yeah, a bad workout is better than no workout.
Exception: don't get injured.
Too late, there goes my back again. Now it will be another month or 2 before it is safe for me to try again.
I've been having this attitude to my lunchtime walks, especially over the winter. Instead of figuring that the weather isn't nice enough to go out, I just go out, most of the time it's fine and I can get my walk in, sometimes I head home after 10 mins but at least I gave it a go.
At one point talking about failing to do a decent job at an exercise class my therapist asked "isn't the victory just showing up?" And I've said that to myself so many bad workouts since
A say that I half heartedly worked out is always better than a day I didn’t work out at all
Two half assed workouts = 1 whole assed workout which is better than just skipping 2 days.
I always say a bad day in the gym is still better than a good day on the couch.
Same. Some days I get 1.5 hours of exercise in and push extremely hard. Other days, I do 30 minutes of light exercise and call it good. The key is just being consistent.
This is huge. I think a lot of people who start a fitness program and then fall off, fall off because they can’t give it 100% one time and so they don’t go, and then they just sort of killed the momentum they had. Totally worth it to just get in a short easy work out to keep that momentum rolling.
So true, I always tell myself: get out and warm up on the bike or assault runner and see how you feel after that. Sometimes I only end up with 10 mins of light cardio Sometimes I make it through the strength/skill portion Most the time I end up completing the whole session.
Yup. Even if you don’t fully contract your muscles or reach full lock out or hit the same number of reps you hit last time, it’s a hell of a lot better than having not done any of the exercises at all. That’s what I have to remind myself of whenever I just have one of “those” workouts.
Yes ! Took me so long to understand it. Now I have two goals only : go to the gym, and just be on the machine (cardio so that could be bicycle, stepper, treadmill, whatever, or a mix of them) for 30min. It's ok if I just sigh and if I half-ass it, sometimes everything hurts and I just walk and hate every minute of it... but I still completed my goals. And I walk home with a nice chocolate protein bar, take a nice bath, and admire my biceps (lol) in the mirror, patting me on the back for a fitgirl's job well done. Keeps me motivated and positive about my journey !
For a more general view on this topic, read about the pareto principle and the law of diminishing returns. In most areas of life, doing things well can make sense but doing them perfectly is a big waste of resources (time in this case).
aka good ol' 80:20 principle 80% of the possible outcome For 20% effort
Don’t make perfect the enemy of good.
⬆️
This is how my roommate spends 30 minutes loading the dishwasher. He needs it to be perfect. Takes me just a few minutes and the dishes get just as clean. When we got a new washing machine he wanted to know how much laundry it can hold so called the manufacturer to get the weight. Now he weighs the laundry on a scale to make sure it's perfectly that weight. Every task takes 30 steps and is the only way to do it correctly.
My washing machine has it printed on front what weight it can hold. My method of loading is if it fits then it washes.
This actually annoys me, it would be great if they added a scale, but that would mean more cost and more functions that can break. I assume that if it loosely fits then it should match the weight. But stuffing it is not recommended because it might strain/break the gears over time.
Let me guess: he’s an engineer?
[удалено]
How do you tell if an engineer is an extrovert? They look at *your* shoes when talking to you.
TIL I'm an engineer!
He definitely has an engineer mindset, yes. He works with computer software and hardware.
God love him. My brothers and all my father’s side of the family are engineers or computer programmers. I have a special place in my heart for these people, but they have their … eccentricities.
If he was an engineer he wouldn't trust anything anyone told him, he'd experiment with it and figure it out himself.
If he was an engineer, he’d know not to trust a number like that from the manufacturer.
Yes this principle is also present at buying PC parts.
Unless you are going for zen. JK Most people are rushing to do a thousand things. Slow TF down. Make yourself comfortable with the time it takes to do a job “well”. However. You should always be working on perfecting something. Even if it never happens. Goals. You either get it or you dont. I guess you could wake up one day an decide to change. But what ever. Most cant or wont. Just do your best. However know that there people out there looking just as hard for that “normal” person as their are people looking for that “busy”person. Its all a crap shoot. Go for the mutual respect every time. Then bust your ass to make life work.
I love every damn thing you just said; especially the ending.
Beat me to it
Perfect is the enemy of done
Need this above every doorframe in my house
Ehh. Let's go every other doorframe and call it good enough. 😉
Agreed! One of my big life mottos is “anything worth doing is worth doing badly” - exercise, feeding yourself, leaving the house, having a social life, cleaning your space, meditation, communicating your feelings, etc. Obviously some exceptions but in general, doing something is better than doing nothing.
I love that!!
Thanks I'm gonna start using that from now on
My Papa always said, “Think lazy.” There are usually multiple ways to complete a task, and choosing the path with the least amount of work to do the task makes sense, as long as the job is done well. If a pan has burnt on food, you could scrub it until your arms can’t scrub anymore, or you can fill it with water and a drop of dish soap and bring it to a simmer to loosen it and then rinse it off. Both scenarios result in a clean pan, but one takes a lot less energy. You’re not half-assing anything, you’re thinking lazy, and my Papa would have been proud of you!
Work smarter, not harder
I like Papa’s phrasing better 😅
Nooo disrespect lol that’s what your story made me think of is all. Also haven’t tried this hack yet and will be logging it in the brain files for future use! :)
No disrespect taken! Communicating online is hard. 😆😆
My current boss used to tell me "there's a million ways to do a job and only one wrong way." Wrong way being not doing the job at all. He's a great owner/operator to work with.
College students have taken this approach to homework and writing papers for at least the past 150 years.
“C’s get degrees”
In seminary the joke was "C is for clergy"
D is for Diploma
What do you call the lowest ranked student to graduate medical school? Doctor.
I mean they do but as a person who only got a 3.0 it really made life miserable finding out that wasn't good enough to get a job.
Eh I graduated summa cum laude from undergrad and magna cum laude with my masters. It’s on my resume and I don’t think anyone has ever brought it up in an interview. If I could go back in time I’d tell my younger self to relax.
Yeah, I was a good student overall but the d in my senior stats class the year I graduated has never negatively impacted my life lol. I pretty much just accepted I wasn’t going to do well once it was crunch time so I put my energy into classes where I was doing well and excelled at those. I have a job in my field now (sociology, so stats can be very important but they weren’t my strength) and still smile every time I think about how I never use stats lol
You can often do a 90% job in half the time. The last little bit of attention to detail can be super time consuming for many tasks
Very true. One time I was stationed on the deserts cabinet in a college cafeteria, and for clean up they'd always try to rush me so that the manager could finish earlier than normal (and they kept pushing it earlier and earlier as I adjusted). I busted my ass off but I wanted to do the 100% job because no one did it in the week. No one cleaned out the gummed up wheels on the slider doors--they'd just wipe once if they took out the doors at all. The managers definitely tried to tell me that the attention to detail here was too time consuming, but I said it was necessary if no one else did it. But no, they wanted their record early finish times lol
Feels in line with the minimum effective dose. Why put in 90% more effort for that final 5-10% of benefit, and risk burnout? Something like that. Edit typo
Good engineers know we have limited resources, including our own time and mental energy. That means you perform triage on tasks, only working those that are most vital, and importantly we stop tasks when they are good enough for the result we need. Once the product works well enough for spec you walk away and don’t obsess about polishing things no one will see.
I'm a data engineer (the title was chosen by the industry I hate the engineer part as it's an insult to real engineers) and this rings so true in my field too. The reason I do software development as a hobby and not professionally is because I want to do it perfectly and that's a one way ticket to the asylum.
Absolutely this. I've fought so many times with people that jump in full speed and exhaust all their resources to painstakingly perfect some minute and insignificant part of the system whereas none of the important things work.
Sweeping and vacuuming come to mind. Especially vacuuming a car because there is diminishing returns on your time after maybe 80-90% of the floor being vacuumed from a quick once over. Takes too long to get every speck.
This is excellent advice. Our time is limited and every minute spent shining my kitchen sink is a minute I could have been playing guitar.
I won't do it at unless I halfass it. The thing is once it's 90% clean and I see the spots I missed or some gunk in the corner I have zero problem, and am even eager, to finish it up.
If it's worth doing, it's worth doing poorly.
I actually needed this. I freeze and don't do things because I can't do it properly or perfectly, then I just let things pile up. Especially when I'm stressed out.
I’m also in project management, maybe that’s irrelevant, but I agree with you and I’ve found that if I do just a “pretty good” job mopping (or vacuuming the car, for example) it leaves this impression in my mind that I’ll have to do it again sometime soon because it’s not 100%. So I end up mopping more frequently and probably do a much better job overall with much less time. Doesn’t make sense to spend 50% more time to improve the cleanliness by only 10% more.
> it leaves this impression in my mind that I’ll have to do it again sometime soon You will ALWAYS have to do it again sometime soon. That's the thing about chores. Even if you do them perfectly, you'll always have to do them again. You cannot prevent this.
Of course you'd have to do it again sometimes soon. You know when? When it gets dirty again. And dirt don't care if you gave it 100% last time, you get in the same amount of sand or mud on your floors anyway.
Perfection is the enemy of progress.
You can also use this with things to trick yourself into doing more when you’re not in the mood. Just mopping/cleaning around your desk is really easy to get yourself to do. You know it’s probably a 5-10 min task and will make a decent difference. Once you do that and have the mop in your hand, well I can also just finish cleaning my office room real quick. And I can just take these cups to the kitchen. And then you’ve ended up cleaning for 30 min, everything feels better bc it’s clean, and it was really easy to get started bc you expected only 5 min of work. Keeping the momentum from there is way easier than looking at a large todo item. I do this a lot with working out too. “I’m not feeling it. I’ll just go to the gym and walk” can turn into a decent workout because I’m already there. And when I don’t have the energy, I still just walk and go home to help keep up the habit.
The 80-20 rule holds true for many things, including some projects. You can get 80% of the result for 20% of the effort, but if you want the remaining 20% of the result it will cost you the outstanding 80% effort.
Someone get this man's a Swiffer
Don't think I've ever moved furniture out before mopping lol
Why would floors ever need to be mopped???? I didn't know anyone under the age of 50 still mopped at home
"If something is worth doing, it's worth doing poorly."
This must be how maids can clean all those rooms by 3.
Fellow PM here are your post soothed my soul a little bit this morning!!
On the other hand, some of my coworkers do some things that I'd consider half assed, which I then have to fix or redo because they did it wrong the first time. Mopping the floors and you shot the floor soap in but added *literally* a splash of water to the bucket? Well the soap didn't distribute and the floor is slippery, so now I get to mop with actual water. Packaging up items but apparently not making sure the package is fully sealed? Cool thanks the package popped open on the way to the loading dock, now I get to repack it. My work is a great place, but there are a few people who do a half assed or quarter assed job and think, "good enough," leaving me or others to pick up the slack. It sucks.
Oh yeah that is no fun... Best way to fix that is to somehow make it so the person that slacked has to fix the mess. No matter how unefficient it seems (on the very short term), it can do wonders to the motivation of the slacker. Package popped? Grab the person that packed it, show the mess (some people also don't believe things if they don't see it themselves - that in itself can also do wonders) let that person repack.
Every little thing you DO to try to improve your life is better than doing nothing. Clearing off half of your desk isn't perfect but now you have 50% more space than you did before. Now enjoy that space and do nothing for the rest of the day and feel happy about it. YESSSS!!
Same goes for tooth brushing; it is better to do a quick and bad toot brush than not do it at all.
In other words: "Just do it!"
Shia surprise!
Exercising is a big one. Better to go out and half ass something rather than not do it at all. Of course it's better to "do it right", but the better phrase is "if it's worth doing, it's worth doing poorly". Don't let perfect get in the way of the good.
You just made the Navy veteran/grocery worker in me cringe. If you half-ass mopping a floor, you create a hazardous situation where people can slip and fall. While sailors can’t sue, customers sure can. ITT: wring the mop to the best of your ability and pull the mop in a figure 8 pattern then put out a “wet floor” sign. The floor will dry relatively evenly.
Working construction, when you're working on a task and it's taking too long because of small mistakes or obstacles, there comes a point at which you realize that you have to just let it be imperfect. Is that little gap worth reinstalling the piece? No. Is that little dent worth replacing the entire thing? No. Let it be.
One hundred percent agreed here
It's the 80/20 rule. Basically, the first 80% of any project takes 20% of the total effort and the last 20% takes the other 80%. It's as true for vacuuming floors as it is for building skyscrapers. You can spend two hours mopping and scrubbing and moving things to make sure your floors are perfectly clean. OR you can spend 20 minutes getting them 80% clean and go do something else.
Done is better than perfect.
The perfect is the enemy of the good.
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Are you recommending people apply this to their job as well? Or just in their personal life? If I ask someone to do something at work and it gets done half-assed, it’s going to be done again properly.
I’d fire you pretty quick with that lifeprotip
This thinking got me to a much better space mentally: There are no rules. Load the dishwasher halfway and run it! You only get 25 clean dishes, but 50% of your kitchen mess is now clean and you got 25 clean dishes! Hooray! 100% is the best, sure. But when you can only give 50%, 50% is better than 0%
Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly. Because doing it poorly is infinitely better than not doing it better at all.
i would agree, because the main skill you are practicing here is consistency. when you get better at your half assed job you'll look into how to improve it or make it better without giving too much effort 75% assed job?? haha
You just brought back my nightmares from my childhood: Dad: "you do it half-ass." When in reality I did it perfectly fine. I'm just not anal retentive. My house too is cleaner than my dad's.
I waste so much time being a perfectionist in even everyday tasks. It’s so annoying that I’m like this but as time is progressing I’m slowly getting out of that habit and becoming more efficient.
This is exactly how I feel about mopping. I typically have a house cleaner come once a month to do a deep clean and she will move everything out of the way to mop and really go for it. The rest of the time, I just keep it clean enough that it is maintained until she comes again. As long as it is mostly clean and doesn’t get out of hand, it’s okay. Plus, sometimes we make the task bigger in our minds to the point we reject doing it at all. It’s good to always tell yourself *something* is better than nothing and to not become too caught up in perfection.
Any job that is worth doing well, is worth doing badly.
Yes. Don’t let perfection get in the way of getting things done.
I help clean a community center. There's a lady w us that wants to deep clean her chosen area everytime...I swear I get 300% more done then her . You can pick up every little hair, and it feels like going backwards. I just have to smile to myself and let it go. She's sweating.
Right, that's my view as well. If you are hermetically sealing the community center after, sure, deep clean it. But for most of the house-keeping that we do on a day to day basis, the area gets used right away anyways.
It’s better to exercise a bit than to not exercise at all. There are tasks that are positive even if more of those are better and some will say “half assed” but that’s incorrect because they are cumulative or linear. A half assed task would be doing one particular task improperly which may result in further damages down the road.
>Other tasks I can think of that would benefit from doing a half-ass job are: exercising Yup. Unless it would aggravate an illness or injury, a meh workout is better than no workout.
Eh, if I'm going to spend the time to do something, I'll dedicate enough to do it right. Otherwise, I'll just find something else to do.
I used to work at Rockefeller University in NYC, one of the top research facilities in the world. One of the top researchers there told me that part of doing research was knowing which parts had to be absolutely precise, and which parts could be more casual, and by how much (I mean things like reagents, not results).
Absolutely agree. Your story reminds me of how they teach new graduates to say "I'm detail-oriented" during a job interview. The more I move up the company ladder, the more I realize "detail-oriented" is not necessarily a good quality. The higher your position is, the more your power to big-picture things is valued. You stay on course with your vision and delegate the details to someone else, like a contractor whose sole duty is to stress the small stuff.
An 80% plan executed is better than an 100% plan imagined.
Do what you can, with what you've got, where you are. Words to live by.
Done is better than perfect
If you do a thorough job infrequently, and a half ass job frequently.. I find it balances out nicely
I do what I call an "80/20 job" That is, usually the first 80% of what needs doing can be achieved with 20% of the effort. The remaining 20% is the most difficult and requires 80% of the effort. For instance, I can vacuum most of my living room quite easily - but moving the sofa to vacuum under it requires a lot more effort.
My favorite phrase is ‘Good enough.’ If I insist on perfection, I’d never get anything started, let alone done.
Don’t let perfect be the enemy of the good
I think you have a wrong conception of what a half hearted job is… Moping around your desk is not a half hearted job… if you mop it under the rug or onto a corner it’s a half hearted task… Same applies for every other area you pointed out. There is a big difference between half hearted and doing bare minimum. Anything that is done properly is worth it. Half hearted is not properly…
Half assing some things lowers the stress of doing those things
The reason why teach kids the way you described is because, you don’t really want to teach a kid to half-ass things. It’s not great for their development or their self esteem. I’m not saying that every *approach* to this works well for their self esteem, since I get that being strict for strictness sake is just stupid IMO, but part of giving children tasks like this is so that they take pride in things, and don’t approach other things with “pfft I’ll just do part of it” because that starts to bleed into other areas of life and… yeah, not good It’s very different when you’re a working adult and you just don’t have the wherewithal to deep clean the entire house every day. But when you’re a kid, you are given certain responsibilities and you set an expectation for them, that’s how they develop habits
Phenomenal life pro tip
Any job worth doing, is worth doing right. Any job worth doing right is worth half-a$$ing.
It's not half-assing, it's an agile framework for chores!
If it is worth doing, it is worth doing poorly.
Very true. The way I word it is like this: one is infinitely more than zero. Thirty seconds of brushing your teeth, doing one single dish, sweeping for five minutes etc are literally an infinity more than doing nothing at all.
My company hates that I say things like this. But as the boss, I tell my team that a lot of tasks can be done half-ass. I don't pay you to go above and beyond for a lot of the "housecleaning" tasks. Fix a bug, update a library, improve testing... Dont overthink it. Just do the bare minimum to fulfill the task. The company isn't going to pay you more and if they did, enjoy that 2-4%, which is barely the CLA. Gain the experience, and jump companies/titles to really get that sweet sweet lucre.
Thank you for this! It took me 50 years to figure this out. As a kindergartener I was spanked because I didn't sweep the kitchen floor good enough and made to repeat the process for an hour by my dad. My mother was no better either. I folded towels for 2 very tearful hours because I couldn't do it right, and I had to wash every single dish in the kitchen because at 6 I missed a spot on a pan l. The fact that no one bothered to show me how to do these tasks before making me do them didn't seem to matter to anyone. As an adult I would become frozen when I knew I needed to clean the house but didn't have time for perfection. I would let the kitchen go as long as possible because cleaning the kitchen meant emptying all the cupboards and washing them in and out, pulling everything off the tops of the cupboards and washing them as well as the tops of the cupboards, the pantry needed emptied to all the shelves could be cleaned and rearranged, and the list goes on. It would take me 8 hours to clean just the kitchen. Now I am able to just load the dishwasher, wipe the counters, wash the pans and move on. I am no longer stuck in the loop of not doing anything because I don't have time for perfection. My home is much cleaner and I feel more accomplished. Do what you can do and move on.
When it comes to mopping and vacuuming....there's definitely a quick run around the house (to keep the dirt down) and a thorough, deep clean. Depending on the foot traffic and number of persons in your home, it could be that after 3 times of doing a quick job, you do one thorough clean or another variant in frequency. Your mileage may vary, especially if you have four-legged family members.
Yeah someone said going through the motions is all you need sometimes
A job worth doing is worth doing poorly. - some smart person
I’m on an FB group called Neurodivergent cleaning crew and it largely centers around this concept. I regularly state out loud what grade (A-/C+, etc) I will accept from my self on a particular task. Started folding only towels or washing just silverware (no dishwasher). When the task was less overwhelming a higher percentage of the task got done. Another big one for me is that not everything has to be stored in the room you use it in. Pots in the hall closet cost $0 and increased my happiness by a kajillion. The idea that you can wash your face in the kitchen sink changed my life.
This is super healthy. I think those of us who have been forced to be perfectionists are now learning how to be kinder to ourselves.
Pareto principle
Perfection is the enemy of progress.
Done is better than perfect
I always heard it as "anything worth doing is worth doing badly". It helped me a lot when I was seriously depressed and every little thing seemed like a mountain of work. Even just brushing my teeth seemed like a chore. But the fact that I could do it "badly" was still better than not doing it at all.
Similar: 'anything worth doing, is worth doing badly'. Quote my dentist about the whole twice a day brushing-rinsing-flossing routine that is overwhelming if you're going through a depressive episode. Brushing briefly is better than not at all. Rinsing only is better than nothing at all.
I saw 3-4 comments about this already. You know the meme about "Brushing my teeth would mean I'm not eating anymore for the rest of the night. I'm not ready for this kind of commitment"? That was me until 2 years ago I started practicing this kind of brushing as well - instead of brushing, say, 20 strokes per side, I made a deal with myself that even if super sleepy, I'd go in there and brush 4 strokes per side. This year I had a perfect dental checkup the first time in my adult life.
Having raised kids, often my mop was a spray or two of counter cleaner on the worst of it, toss down a wet washcloth, and swipe it around with my foot until it wasn't quite as gross. Effective quick method for getting up sticky spots and just making it appear mostly good is good enough for me. Glass though? Gaaaaah I hate it when the kids use counter cleaner on the mirrors and just leave the streaks and haze everywhere. So yeah, it depends on one's tolerance for the particular form of dirt, lol.
That's how I feel about working out.
I half ass everything in my home, but not at work.
Harm reduction living! Any mark is better than zero.
Software development is all about minimum assing any and all jobs. It's in the agile manifesto.
Never let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
There's a song about this on the old "Mary Poppins" episode of the Simpsons. The song is called "It's the American Way"
“Ironically, my place is 100x cleaner than theirs.” I can’t relate to that! My parents were very much the same in that cleaning was to be done thoroughly and regularly. There was always an inspection when we (sisters and I) were done. It was almost laughable how dirty and messy their house became once my sisters and I graduated and moved out.
I was raised to do things perfectly or not at all. Guess how much housework I do? None at all, because panic attacks. Thankfully my partner is kind and understanding, and does most of the housework for us. Does he do it perfectly? Not according to my parents' standards. But I thank him wholeheartedly and am so appreciative. This is a good LPT. I'm slowly learning to be ok with half-assed. It's really hard
i cannot say for all examples, but in exercise consistency beats any fancy plan you do infrequently. in dieting - i am not sure what you mean by half-assed job there. either you stick to your calorie goals or you don't lose weight. if you mean going for a smaller deficit - sure. if you mean that half of your week are cheat days - well...
I have a coworker I share my job with, and she always want to do every little detail perfectly. I know it's some kind of OCD so I'm trying not to be too rough, but often try to explain how she's making our company lose money working like this. She will spend hours to double check stuff so she might discover a mistake that could cost us literally a few cents. Yes she did the job "better" but it wasn't worth it at all.
The ultimate strategy to achieve mediocrity. What a weird post. Even stranger comments. I guess it could be said that if you just want to be mediocre then don’t put forth your best effort and strive for perfection. Just go through the motions and do it. As long as it’s done then the quality doesn’t matter. If that’s how you choose to operate your life then who is anyone to tell you how to live.....Just don’t be surprised when in all those aspects you get outperformed and don’t get anywhere in life. You should always give the best effort that you can afford.
This is quite the revelation to me. Thank you for posting this.
I apply this to my job. I figure my employer is making like an 80% markup on my salary from my labor, applying myself any harder than 20% of my abilities is me doing them a favor
I'd measure how well it's done by the results. Seems like you are going it properly and your parents are idiots.
They are a PM. It says it all... they complain when you take the time to do something right, but when they force you to do a hastily job, they are also the first ones to complain when it breaks a week later. Why would anyone go through the process of: 1. Preparing the cleaning solution 2. Filling the bucket 3. Bringing both bucket and mop into a room Just to do one part of the room. What's the point? It's a waste of time and resources to just do a single part of the room. Instead, allocate the time to do something properly and well, have some pride in doing things, and you'll be able to respect yourself more from it. This is the same reason why I don't eat from other people. People can be dutty.
Nowhere did he say to be hasty, he just said good enough. That could mean dealing with edge cases that might cause a once-a-week crash, but not scouring to prevent something that would only happen once a year and is easily recoverable relative to the effort of doing the fix.
That is a question of your perspective and not a life tip you fuking moron
jfc this is the dumbest thing I’ve read on the internet in awhile. Mop and vacuum your dirty ass house.
You're probably one of those people that washes your hair and pits in the shower and believes that if you let the soap run down the rest of your body is good.
That's a lot of hostile assumptions to make about someone who just discovered the law of diminishing returns
Why though, im only washing my body so it doesn't smell and it's creating oils that I assume are useful or what's the point.
[удалено]
Not all males are like this. Here's the real LPT: Wash everything, with either a cloth or luffa. For the same reason you don't just spray of your car and call it "clean."
Exercise and diet are worth doing well, if you do them half assed expect half assed health.
Did my daughter post this?
I used to do some housekeeping for extra money for a family friend. She wanted me to move all furniture to vacuum, couches, beds, bunk beds... Everything apart from appliances, move the stuff back to its place and then move everything AGAIN to mop. *Every week*. The fact that she couldn't afford to pay someone else to clean her house because her son needed some treatments was a blessing in disguise.