Perfectionism mistakes the destination for the path, and in doing so often prevents arrival entirely — the work held back until it is ready becomes the work that never exists. There is a finer attention that perfectionism counterfeits: the devotion to what the work is actually trying to be, rather than the image of the work that preceded it. To finish is an act of trust, releasing the made thing from the impossible standard of the imagined one.
Each step builds on the last.