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The Perfect is the Enemy of the Good

It doesn’t have to be perfect. Just make it, build it, ship it, upload it, or share it. Just do your best and get it done. And keep going. As a recovering control freak and perfectionist, I’m working hard to finish more projects and cross them off my to-do list, even if they’re not perfect. 

“The Perfect is the Enemy of the Good” is one of my all-time favorite quotes. As a recovering control freak and perfectionist, I’m working hard to finish more projects and cross them off my to-do list, even if they’re not perfect. 

2019 was a tough year for me. I lost my beloved father in February – one of the worst times of my life. I miss him dearly. My girlfriend lost her step-father in November, and my sister’s husband lost his mother in October. Lots of tears and sadness. I spent more hours in hospitals, nursing homes, and funeral homes in 2019 than I care to count. 

I feel like 2019 was the “Year of Loss.” It was also the year of starting and stopping many projects, with very few reaching the point of completion. Granted, I went to Colombia in June and to Belize in December with my girlfriend, finished building the railings on our new backyard deck, and spoke to 250 people at Jeff Goins’ Tribe Conference about mindfulness and creativity in September. So yeah, there are those things in the “completed” category for the year.   

I made a list of all the projects I was working on in the fall of 2019, and I was able to count ten. Ten projects! Each was a work in progress. Some were at or near the starting line, some were close to the finish line, but most were somewhere in the middle, in the vast open expanse of limbo.

With so many projects on my plate, I was frustrated and embarrassed. I frequently felt overwhelmed and confused, which is quite unusual for me. It felt like if I took any steps to move a particular project forward, the energy I spent on that project would come at the expense of neglecting the other projects. I would start and stop and start and stop, and then turn my attention and energy to another project. It was slow going at times, but I never stopped moving forward and trying my best. 

My audiobook project received a huge investment of my time and attention throughout the year. It was like running a marathon. I’m happy to report that I finished it a few weeks ago, and it should be available on Audible and many other digital outlets and libraries worldwide any day now. More about that below.

As I mentioned in my manifesto, “The Perfect is the Enemy of the Good:”

“A few years ago, I finally realized my procrastinating tendencies were rooted primarily in my need for control and my desire to do things perfectly. I put off starting something or doing something if I wasn’t exactly sure of how it was going to turn out, or if I didn’t know how to do it perfectly. Fear of failure and imperfection kept me stuck in a rut of inaction, doubt, and insecurity. Sure, I wasn’t making any mistakes, but nothing was getting done.” 

Inaction, doubt, and insecurity were the main ingredients in my terrible recipe for Failure Cake. With 2019 in the rearview mirror, I’m committed to making 2020 the “Year of Completion.” My goal is to complete one exciting project and then move on to the next one. I’m not going to make any of them “perfect”… I’ll be happy with making them “very good” and shipping them, sharing them, uploading them, or whatever. I’m going to take action and build the plane while I’m flying it. 

Here are a few projects I’m focusing on right now and plan to share with you and the world over the coming months:

    • The audiobook version of Passport Forward will be available worldwide in the next week or so. You can hear my Preface here and the Retail Sample (sneak peek) here. Once the audiobook goes live, I’ll start running another marathon of sorts as I move deeper into the marketing/promoting phase of the project.
    • The Courier-Journal (Kentucky’s largest newspaper) invited me to speak to 350 attendees at the Storytellers project on April 8th at the Muhammad Ali Center. The theme is “Travel: What a Trip,” and I’ll tell the story about my epic day of trekking in the Himalayas where I arrived at the 16,300-foot pass an hour after sunset and experienced hallucinations and numbness while climbing. Yeah, what a trip! If you’re in the area, I’d love to see you in the audience.
    • My good friend and super-talented counselor Henry Lucas and I will be launching our new “Maximize Your Life” 8-week course. We’ll co-create a community of great people who are up-leveling their lives and moving beyond regrets, routine, and excuses to open up more space for something (or someone) new. Overcoming limitations, building sustaining habits, chasing dreams, and having fun are on the menu. Stay tuned for more details.
    • My friend Tracy hosts small-group cooking classes at her historic home in Fort Worth, TX, sharing healthy eating habits and delicious food in an intimate setting with her guests. Tracy and I will be presenting several weekend retreats combining mindfulness, meditation, and cooking classes. The first one will be April 24-26. The menu will include quiet, stillness, community, tasty treats, and more confidence in the kitchen. Think Zen Monk meets Culinary Badass. If you’re interested, just let me know and I’ll get you the details.

Will any of the above new projects be perfect? I can guarantee you they won’t be. But I’ll step through my fear of failure, push through my tendency to procrastinate, and give each one my best shot. And then I’ll keep going.

So I ask you, how often do you feel stuck because you’re striving for perfection instead of “good enough?” Do you often beat yourself up for procrastinating or for jumping from one project to another without completing anything? What’s one project you want to complete in 2020? What (or who) is standing in your way? Leave a comment below or send me an email.

You don’t need to make anything perfect. Just make it, build it, ship it, upload it, or share it. Just do your best and get it done. And keep going.

Remember, the perfect is the enemy of the good.

Here’s to making 2020 the year of getting stuff done. 

Begin well and do not fear the end.

Lex

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Chronology – The Lexpedition 3.0 (Test)

So far I have been to 80 countries on this glorious planet. And I have more adventures ahead.

Welcome to the Chronology of my travels.

CHRONOLOGY  HOME

 

The Lexpedition 3.0 – On New Year’s Eve of 2010, I embarked on my second massively-unscripted global adventure. I started in Vietnam and ended up in Iceland, with 41 other countries sprinkled in along the way during my 448-day, non-stop voyage.

In addition to several life-changing experiences, I also endured more than my fair share of long bus and train rides, connecting flights, quiet dinners, and beers alone. Oh, and many hours on the Internet or comparing notes with fellow travelers to figure out my next destination, and the details and logistics required to get from here to there.

Once again I spent a great deal of time in my beloved India, including another trekking season in the Himalayas of Ladakh and Zanskar. I also enjoyed a healthy sampling of the Asian continent on this trip, including five exceptional weeks in Laos, a month in Sri Lanka, and three weeks in Mongolia.

Spain was my home for six weeks. I also explored several off-the-beaten-path European countries including Romania, Macedonia, Ukraine, and Bulgaria. I passed through four of the six European Microstates of Andorra, Monaco, Lichtenstein and San Marino. Having visited Vatican City while studying in Spain with Mitch, Paul, and Chuck in spring of 1989, the only Microstate that eludes me is Malta. But don’t worry, That Mediterranean gem is definitely on my list!

And, as luck would have it, my buddy Mitch was working as an international lawyer in Kosovo and offered me his convertible Volkswagen EOS for a few weeks.  How cool is that? I drove Mitch’s car for 19 days, covering 2,300 km (1,400 miles) while seeing Albania and all seven of the former Yugoslavian countries of Kosovo, Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Montenegro. Croatia is a fantastic country and deserves a whole month (or more) of my life at some point down the road.

Speaking of former countries, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan in Central Asia are not yet on the travel radar. But they soon will be. These are four of the 15 Post-Soviet States created when the USSR dissolved in 1991. I spent more than three weeks in Kyrgyzstan alone, and with a chronic, prolonged case of diarrhea notwithstanding, I loved every bit of my time in that amazing country. The highlight: My four-day hiking and camping adventure with Rudy and Veronika in the beautiful wilderness near Karakol. The Silk Road city of Samarkand in Uzbekistan, featuring the ancient and glorious Registan, was one of the high points of my trip.

Depending on your definition, there are fifty countries in Europe; there are only eight I have not visited yet. I mentioned Malta above. Six of the others are actually the Post-Soviet States of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Russia. And the eighth is Cypress. But don’t worry, all those countries are on my list too.

Even though I visited 43 countries on The Lexpedition 3.0, the bulk of what I wrote about in my book, The Lexpedition, is from my adventures in Vietnam, Laos, Burma, Mongolia, India, Sri Lanka, Ukraine, and the ‘Stans of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Nothing against any of the other countries, but for some reason, most of my favorite moments and memories have occurred in the raw and under-developed countries I find so interesting and captivating. Let’s face it; I’m not expecting to have a life-changing moment in London, Paris, or Dublin. I love each of those fine cities, but I prefer the Himalayas, or the newness of a back alley in Hanoi or Phnom Penh, or a quiet beach on an Indonesian island any day of the week.

Here are the details of The Lexpedition 3.0
(You can sort by location, country, date, or use the search bar)



Next Step: Check out the details of my travels since 2014 on “The Lexpedition 4.0”

CHRONOLOGY  HOME

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Chronology – The Lexpedition – Compiled Travels

So far I have been to 80 countries on this glorious planet. And I have more adventures ahead.

Welcome to the Chronology of my travels.

CHRONOLOGY  HOME

 

Here are ALL the details from The Lexpedition 2.0, 3.0 and 4.0. It’s pretty cool, as you can see my repeat visits to the same cities, islands or countries over many years of travels.

Try sorting the data by location or country, or search in the search bar for specific details. Pretty cool, huh?

Here are the compiled details of ALL The Lexpeditions
(You can sort by location, country or date)

[ninja_tables id=2272]

CHRONOLOGY  HOME

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Chronology – The Lexpedition 4.0

So far I have been to 80 countries on this glorious planet. And I have more adventures ahead.

Welcome to the Chronology of my travels.

CHRONOLOGY  HOME

 

The Lexpedition 4.0 – All my travels from 2014 to the present day make up The Lexpedition 4.0, including more adventures in India and first-time visits to Nicaragua, Peru, Costa Rica and Guatemala.

Here are the details of The Lexpedition 4.0
(You can sort it by date, location or country, or use the search bar)


[ninja_tables id=2270]

Next Step: Take a look at all of my Travel Data on my Compiled Lexpedition List

CHRONOLOGY  HOME

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Chronology – The Lexpedition 3.0

So far I have been to 80 countries on this glorious planet. And I have more adventures ahead.

Welcome to the Chronology of my travels.

CHRONOLOGY  HOME

 

The Lexpedition 3.0 – On New Year’s Eve of 2010, I embarked on my second massively-unscripted global adventure. I started in Vietnam and ended up in Iceland, with 41 other countries sprinkled in along the way during my 448-day, non-stop voyage.

In addition to several life-changing experiences, I also endured more than my fair share of long bus and train rides, connecting flights, quiet dinners, and beers alone. Oh, and many hours on the Internet or comparing notes with fellow travelers to figure out my next destination, and the details and logistics required to get from here to there.

Once again I spent a great deal of time in my beloved India, including another trekking season in the Himalayas of Ladakh and Zanskar. I also enjoyed a healthy sampling of the Asian continent on this trip, including five exceptional weeks in Laos, a month in Sri Lanka, and three weeks in Mongolia.

Spain was my home for six weeks. I also explored several off-the-beaten-path European countries including Romania, Macedonia, Ukraine, and Bulgaria. I passed through four of the six European Microstates of Andorra, Monaco, Lichtenstein and San Marino. Having visited Vatican City while studying in Spain with Mitch, Paul, and Chuck in spring of 1989, the only Microstate that eludes me is Malta. But don’t worry, That Mediterranean gem is definitely on my list!

And, as luck would have it, my buddy Mitch was working as an international lawyer in Kosovo and offered me his convertible Volkswagen EOS for a few weeks.  How cool is that? I drove Mitch’s car for 19 days, covering 2,300 km (1,400 miles) while seeing Albania and all seven of the former Yugoslavian countries of Kosovo, Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Montenegro. Croatia is a fantastic country and deserves a whole month (or more) of my life at some point down the road.

Speaking of former countries, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan in Central Asia are not yet on the travel radar. But they soon will be. These are four of the 15 Post-Soviet States created when the USSR dissolved in 1991. I spent more than three weeks in Kyrgyzstan alone, and with a chronic, prolonged case of diarrhea notwithstanding, I loved every bit of my time in that amazing country. The highlight: My four-day hiking and camping adventure with Rudy and Veronika in the beautiful wilderness near Karakol. The Silk Road city of Samarkand in Uzbekistan, featuring the ancient and glorious Registan, was one of the high points of my trip.

Depending on your definition, there are fifty countries in Europe; there are only eight I have not visited yet. I mentioned Malta above. Six of the others are actually the Post-Soviet States of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Russia. And the eighth is Cypress. But don’t worry, all those countries are on my list too.

Even though I visited 43 countries on The Lexpedition 3.0, the bulk of what I wrote about in my book, The Lexpedition, is from my adventures in Vietnam, Laos, Burma, Mongolia, India, Sri Lanka, Ukraine, and the ‘Stans of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Nothing against any of the other countries, but for some reason, most of my favorite moments and memories have occurred in the raw and under-developed countries I find so interesting and captivating. Let’s face it; I’m not expecting to have a life-changing moment in London, Paris, or Dublin. I love each of those fine cities, but I prefer the Himalayas, or the newness of a back alley in Hanoi or Phnom Penh, or a quiet beach on an Indonesian island any day of the week.

Here are the details of The Lexpedition 3.0
(You can sort by location, country, date, or use the search bar)


[ninja_tables id=2265]

Next Step: Check out the details of my travels since 2014 on “The Lexpedition 4.0”

CHRONOLOGY  HOME

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted on

Chronology – The Lexpedition 2.0

So far I have been to 80 countries on this glorious planet. And I have more adventures ahead.

Welcome to the Chronology of my travels.

CHRONOLOGY  HOME

The Lexpedition 2.0 – On August 1, 2006, my family drove me to the Louisville airport and gave me a beautiful and loving goodbye ceremony. I had a big smile on my face and tears in my eyes as I handed my sister Stasia my Nokia phone and keys to safeguard until my return. I gave my sweet family lots of hugs and kisses, hoisted my backpack over my shoulder, and walked into the airport to officially begin my adventure. A few minutes later, with my bags checked and my ticket in hand, I walked through the airport security area and towards my departure gate.

I had a big smile on my face and felt a massive rush of energy as I began to realize what was happening… I was going to India… and I was going to see the world! Wahoooooo!

I sat down in the airport waiting area. I didn’t have my phone to distract or entertain me, so I couldn’t call or text anybody. For the first time in a VERY long time, I felt utterly unplugged. I was leaving the wired and hectic world behind and moving into my organic, unscripted adventures.

I honestly had no idea how long I would be gone. I had no idea where I was going. Other than a one-way ticket to New Delhi, and a hotel reservation and pick-up from the airport, I had no concrete plans, itinerary or reservations of any sort. Plain and simple, I wanted to see as much of the world as possible, on my terms, at my pace, and with as much adventure and spontaneity as I could generate. In addition to the stories that I wrote about in my book, The Lexpedition, I would like to share a few more interesting tidbits about my 499-day journey.

  • I spent 136 days in India, mostly in the Himalayas. I would gladly spend each summer trekking in the Himalayas if I could. And maybe, hopefully, someday I will.
  • Indonesia is one of my Top 10 countries so far. I was lucky to invest 86 days in that glorious country.
  • The quaint and quiet Indonesian island of Gili Meno is one of the most amazing places I have ever been.
  • In my opinion, New Zealand is the most picturesque and photogenic country in the world (possibly tied with Mongolia).
  • The 33 days I spent in the Philippines were top notch. I fell in love with Boracay and its long, white sandy beach and plentiful scuba diving spots.

Here are the details of The Lexpedition 2.0
(You can sort by location, country, date, or use the search bar)

[ninja_tables id=2267]

Next Step: Check out the details of “The Lexpedition 3.0” (448 days)

CHRONOLOGY  HOME