On my kitchen counter is a four-slice toaster. It makes toast. I keep moving the toaster. It has been plugged in, in seven different outlets in the kitchen. I am trying to find the perfect place for my toaster to sit.
As I was making my breakfast this morning, a fried egg with slices of tomato, I realized the toaster is really my book.
I have been rearranging my book like I rearrange the toaster on my kitchen counter.
Should the book be presented horizontally or vertically? Should the typeface be Times New Roman or Garamond? Do I want to illustrate the book with line drawings or watercolors?
I have been delaying making a decision because I was trying to be perfect.
Today I am going to turn off my phone, block access to facebook, and sit down with my book. It is time to make up my mind.
It is time to finish what I have started. It is time to quit moving the toaster and make a piece of toast.
There is no such thing as perfect.
I just couldn’t make up my mind. I kept thinking there was only one right answer. I thought there was a perfect typeface,that one typeface would be better than another.
When I am finished, I will have a small book. A small book that I made. It really doesn’t matter what the typeface is, as long as it is readable. My message, my words will still mean the same.
It doesn’t matter where my toaster sits. It still makes toast.
Not making up my mind is a form of stalling. A sort of fear of burnt toast.
Today I will finish my book.
Is there a project on your desk you have been rearranging?
May I suggest, you make up your mind, quit moving your toaster and just make a piece of toast.
Finish writing your book and let someone read it. Finish your painting and hang it on the wall. Finish sewing your dress and wear it.
You don’t have to be perfect.
It doesn’t matter which side of the fence you get off on sometimes. What matters most is getting off. You cannot make progress without making decisions.
– Jim Rohn
When you have to make a choice and you don’t make it, that itself is a choice.
– William James
Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.
– Napoleon Bonaparte
