{6} Adaptation

Evolution is not about being the strongest or the fittest; it is about the survival of the most well adapted. And while evolution is something that is generally measured by the yardstick of “millenia”, I confront this idea daily, because I’m a perfectionist.

A perfectionist is NOT adaptable. I am not someone who “goes with the flow” if it is not going where I think it should go. I am the person who points out it is going the “wrong” way and starts to build a dam or flood gate to “fix it,” natural evolution be damned. I’m really good at that kind of task and it is a skill set that has served me well in my professional jobs.

But personally? Not so much.

When I started this “write a blog post a day for a year” project, I had in my head the right way to do it: sit down and spend some time during the day to write a blog post, make it insightful and interesting, and then post it. Simplicity personified!

But something is simple and easy only if you actually do it…which I did not. When the plan went awry, I became frustrated and tried harder to do it the way it should be done…and then didn’t do it at all.

When I decided to start over, I drafted up a post but then, unsurprisingly, didn’t post it because it wasn’t perfect. The next day I opened it up and stared at it in frustration — it was yesterday’s post! That I didn’t post! LOSER!!!!

But as I read it over I realized it wasn’t terrible and just needed some minor edits. I made the edits. I hit “publish” on a whim. And then I realized: I had started over, and was back to square one (literally, blog post {1}), and I was not upset about the quality of the post. I had given myself time to review it and edit it before posting it.

Which, apparently, is what I needed to do from the start. Adapt — write a post and then put it up the following day. It’s still the same process of writing and posting every day, just with a natural break in between the acts themselves.

So this was written yesterday, and it’s been edited, but now it’s posted and you are reading it. Pardon me while I congratulate myself on being BOTH a perfectionist, and adaptable.

No guarantee on how this is going to evolve…