im not watching this because ive already done it myself but the number made me raise an eyebrow so i went to the timestamps to confirm my suspicions and just so you guys know he skipped both 80s specials and both dreamtopias

Before the Sun Sets ||| Jae x Reader

Summary: The two of you were hopelessly in love, it was easy to tell for everyone—including the two of you. However neither of you had refused to act upon it, and though love may be powerful, there is always the possibility of it waning. Someone inevitably had to break, before the love did. And so it fell to the final afternoon for a difference to be made. 

Genre: Nervous fluff, some light angst, otherwise just fluff Warning(s): It’s a confession fic so expect saccharine nerves  Word Count: 2293 Song(s): Serenade - (Hoony Solo) Winner, Mist - Ateez, You Can Stay - Stray Kids

AN: A request from anon, I’m sorry it took so long! I wasn’t feeling a lot of creativity for a while and literally like started completely again after like several thousand words, so this one is a little bit shorter but I think much better in quality. Sort of inspired by this comeback’s teasers

~~~

It was quiet, gently so, with the sun sending cascades of gold through the streets as it set after a relaxed day out at the beach. The rays grazed the pink hued clouds as the sky shone in radiant amber light, gracing you with a halo upon your seaswept hair while you skipped through the dappled shadows of the trees.

You were in reach—much like you had been the entire time, but Jae opted to place this worry aside for the sake of achieving success—to the point he could almost hear his future with you, your laughter whispering across the air. He’d never heard it so close before. It was if the gradually waning afternoon sun had brought it forward to him, to encourage the beating of his heart and the rising heat in his cheeks. He never blushed otherwise, after all.

It was time. For what exactly, Jae wasn’t sure. He had an idea, as this would be the perfect time to confess. But he couldn’t deny the lingering tones of an impending end. Sure, he was ready to practically burst, but it wasn’t that severe. He’d liked you for so long now, who could never imagine a world where he didn’t.

Mere steps away, that laughter was directed to his bandmate as he told you an animated story, his deep voice striving in intonation and octave. You shrieked when Dowoon shook his head, aging his voice for you so as to impersonate an elderly character and Jae sighed. He would never regret helping the youngest come out of his shell, not once, but he felt the pang in his chest as he realised just how happy he made you. He wanted to be the one. The only one.

He shook his head. Now was not time to lose hope or courage.

All he had to do was take a single long stride, ask you, and then he had the prime opportunity to open that loud mouth of his and admit the feelings he’d been having this whole time. The ones that threatened to cleave his heart in two so cleanly if they weren’t acted upon.

He levied himself, words spinning on the cogs of a machine in his head and formulating a sentence: it would only take one to get him started, it was all he needed.

Jae took the step, a deep breath passing through his lips, as his feet drew him close to you, then at your side, to where he wanted—no needed—to be. 

He found himself sandwiched between you and your arguably closest friend rather awkwardly, shoulders pressed in to accommodate for his intrusion. But as his eyes glanced up and caught sight of the block of flats where they called home, he tossed the nerves aside the best he could. Now was not the time for worry. 

Without a glance to Dowoon, something that he hoped would not be taken at all personally, he let his gaze fall onto you and your awe-striking features framed in the afternoon’s gold.

And with the nicest, suavest grin he figured he could ever pull, he let that one word he needed to let the others coalesce fall from his lips.

“Howdy.”

You didn’t take Jae’s sudden appearance at all negatively. Far from it: the sight of his face sent a rush through your veins more potent than any alcohol, leaving you briefly fuzzy in the head and a beam of your own rising to your cheeks.

Nothing could prepare you for many of his antics, as he always found a way to befuddle you with his sudden anecdotes and quote-worthy answers. This time, too, was no different.

As soon as he greeted you, your gently curved eyes widened in surprise as low giggles bubbled from your chest—as if the butterflies that resided there and rose to greet him were beginning to set themselves free. It didn’t help that Dowoon just behind his shoulder pulled an exaggerated expression in incredulosity, squished up to the walled fencing of the street. 

“Howdy,” you returned, meeting his gaze set all the way above you. It never stopped amazing you how easily he could make your laugh, or how hard it was to tear your eyes away from his charming smile—even if it, like this one, was a tad on the unnerving side.  You preferred to not think upon the slight delay you noticed in your actions.

“What can we do for you, Mr Park?”

“Hmm,” Jae thought for a while, heart pumping as he took the next step with ease, “I think it’s less of a plural and more of a singular scenario.”

It took a few moments to understand what he meant, you had to admit, but Dowoon was on the ball.  “Aish, you could just ask!” He pouted, though it was faux for the most part as he quickly settled back into a grin, falling back to harass talk to Sungjin instead.

At last the two of you were left in peace. However, that was only part of this step. He had to ask you the rest as of yet, and you were drawing closer to home.

“Ok, you kicked poor Dowoon out, so what are you after?” you enquired with a sly chuckle and folded arms. You weren’t mad at all—how could you be? The person who you who had captured your heart so easily and nonchalantly wanted to not only be alone with you, was in the process of doing so. 

Oh how you wished you didn’t drift across the pavement to give him space out of reflex. You wanted to stay as close to him as possible, to hold those fingers roughened by guitar strings between your own, let them bathe in the light of the slowly setting sun as you walked. But you couldn’t. Why? Your internal questioning wasn’t directed in the normal fashion, you were rather questioning your apparent cowardice. The excuses you had made all along whisked through your brain as you continued to stare at his crinkled fringe and plush lips that seemed more enticing than ever before.

“I was wondering if you wanted to watch the sun set, since it’s so nice out,” Jae explained, barely able to reciprocate your gaze. He leant in instead, daring to push you and himself one further, whispering, “And I stole the manager’s card so we can get extra snacks.”

You grinned, nibbling o the corner of your lip as you prayed to the heavens that no blush had risen significantly to your cheeks at his words. “I’m in, as long as you promise to hide them in my hiding spot this time.”

“Deal.”

The timing was very nearly off, your acceptance coming just before you had to turn to the main entrance, but fortune was on your side. You called over your shoulder, briefly instructing the others to not wait for you, you were just going to continue your walk and make the most of the weather.

“After all the weather forecast predicts rain tomorrow!”

“Yeah, severe storms! Awful! Floods in the streets!”

“Exactly! We may not see the sun for another week!”

It was was not true in the slightest, and the faces that were before you didn’t show a single sign of believing you—composed of mere nods and pressed smiles—and neither was it necessary, because as soon as your backs were turned, your four roommates immediately exchanged a knowing look, filled with a range of joy, relief and disdain.

But there you went nonetheless, making excuses for yourselves.

It didn’t matter for now, the focus was much more importantly upon the events that followed, as there was still much to go wrong. 

The two of you threaded through the streets leading further out of town, barely running into another soul as you found yourselves back by the beach, though this time at the top of the hills that curbed it in parts. 

The wind didn’t help you as you attempted to ease your fingers through your bedraggled locks, not that you really minded. You had decided to wash it upon your return home.

And so you let your thoughts swirl as they wished, following the lines of his shoulders and back beneath his loose shirt, wondering if you could ever trace them beneath your fingers in the real world. You let yourself be consumed by the daydreams of a plausible future that you longed for; waking up to his dishevelled hair resting upon a pillow beside yours, feeling him flush against you as he joking sat on your lap instead, hearing his voice sing and harmonise the most dreary of days, all the things that you’d done as close friends but this time could do as a couple. 

Partners. Lovers. Together. A future constantly bathed in golden sunrises and sunsets.

You felt like it was closer than ever now, but so were the nerves.  There was no doubt you loved him, and you were sure your affection was mutual but fear always kept you back.

It was at this moment that Jae came to a stop. You had reached an area free of underbrush and the odd dog-walker, with a clear view of the sun. Its belly was brushing the horizon as Jae settled his gangly limbs against the grass, and you very nearly forgot to join him after being distracted by the ombre shades that it cast upon the approaching clouds. 

“Don’t look at it for too long,” he advised once you’d joined him upon the hilltop.

You chuckled, glancing at the orb that gave you warmth, but returning to him. He was capable of giving you so much more. “It’s still unsafe to look at, I know.”

“Don’t want those eyes of yours getting hurt,” he iterated his own falling to the mildly prickly blades of green around him, “they’re too pretty for that.”

His final words had been mumbled, caught by the same slight breeze that made you drape your hands across your bare arms. 

Silence fell over the two of you once again, and it for a while appeared the same stalemate was going to occur once again. You both turned your attentions to the flourishing crimsons and encroaching indigo of the sky, wishing you could turn them toward the other and take in the beauty of their face instead. 

Upon the dimming light of the afternoon giving way to the evening and night, you felt something begin to tug at your heart, cold rippling across your skin.  You didn’t want to be cold.

Meanwhile Jae sat mute in a different way. He had expected to speak again right after he complimented you and then the words just tumbled away. He’d seen you turn your head to the horizon and he’d done the same. You were more insync than you’d perhaps first realised.  All while he stared absently at the arching flames of the sky, the true fire blazed in his heart, heat breaking through to his ears and leaving his heart pounding.  He didn’t want to be so hot.

You were so close, his hand right by yours in the grass. Neither of you had to move far to stretch across the centimetres of shadow and hold one another.

Nothing happened for the longest time. The wind played with the crests of the sea, the salt fell across the air and the small trees behind you rustled in hushed whispers. 

And then, with a flurry of emotion and energy, your hands jumped and clashed, knuckles meeting fingertips, and you turned to look at one another in the dying light. 

The two of you laughed at the accident, pulling away but not far. You pouted sheepishly, rubbing where the contact had been made. Until Jae once again bridged the gap, properly this time, and took your hurt hand into his.

He rubbed his course fingertips across the back of your palm tenderly, and though it was far from a serious injury you’d never thought you’d feel pain disappear so quickly.  He was so gentle with you, and his touch alone seeped warmth through your system. You wanted more.

The touch of your cool hand soothed his nerves too, and he felt the constriction lying on his chest lessen, able to finally open his lips at last.

You had wondered why he had been so quiet, as you never would have expected this moment to be done in silence. But the more you considered it, you wouldn’t change a thing.

He didn’t need to apologise here, the caress of his lips pressed against your hand as he kissed it apologised enough for him. Much like he neither needed to speak to comfort you, or confess to let you know he loved you. 

You knew mostly anyway, but his actions spoke larger than his smart words ever could.

You shifted across the grass and in an instant he embraced you in his warmth, his hands gripping at your shirt desperately as if you could slip away at any moment.

Nuzzling your nose into his neck, you breathed in his salt-tinged scent and breathed a sigh of relief, knowing the chaste kisses you pressed there got your message across.

Soon he pulled apart from you, but only to take your cheeks into his hands and kiss you properly.  You melted into his lips, hands clutching to him and letting him seep into every corner of your being, while he was overcome with security. He finally had you, and he could sink into you just as he wanted to.

You exchanged no words as the sun finally fell beneath the horizon, but none were needed. The gold reflected you, and even though it faded into the deep evening, it would continue to shine for you.

~~~

AN: idk what you guys think of my makeshift paragraph breaks, idk if theyre any good but until tumblr makes some proper ones fuk u tumbler theyre going to be what i use rather than dots (which make the formatting look a bit weird? imo?)

Masterlist

Things We Don't Cherish and Things We Do

Often our spending differs from our real values. We fritter away cash on things we dont cherish and deny ourselves those things we do. Julia Cameron, The Artists Way The Artists Way is a fantastic book about nurturing internal honesty and creativity that I recently found myself rereading, and when I stumbled onto the above quote, it stuck right in my head and I knew it would eventually turn into an article here because it just nails a fundamental truth about personal finance. Camerons point is simple: spending money on things we dont care about is a financial and personal misstep; denying ourselves things we do care about is also a financial and personal misstep. Both of those steps lead to misery, but in different ways. The more obvious misery comes from self-denial. When theres something that we cherish that we intentionally and frequently choose not to spend money on because we need it for other things, we quickly get a sense of feeling deprived and sad. This happens often to people who are just figuring out the ropes of financial responsibility. They make stiff financial cuts to their life and then discover that theyve cut some things that are really dear to them and find themselves feeling miserable. Unless corrected, this usually leads to a complete abandonment of financial change and a return to ones old habits after all, even with financial pressure, it will still feel like a more joyous life. However, a more subtle misery comes from spending money on things you dont really care about. Spending extra money on things like name brand household supplies or on items bought solely to impress someone or on expensive but completely forgettable meals can really add up over time, and thats money taken away both from achieving financial stability and from things you might otherwise truly cherish. Taking money away from financial stability adds a significant level of background stress to ones life that very financial stress is often the motivator for people to start making financial changes and taking money away from things you truly care about can make one feel deprived, as noted above. The optimal situation is where youre spending money truly in line with your values minimal spending on things you dont cherish and adequate spending on things you do truly cherish. That can go out of balance in several ways, and all of those ways contribute to a sense of stress and unhappiness in life. In my own life, Ive found that achieving this kind of balance is like aiming for a target that I never quite reach, but happiness is found by getting close to it and consciously working toward it. You never quite reach it for very long because youre constantly changing as a person, but aiming for that target and being close to that target is very life-affirming: you dont feel (much) financial stress but you dont feel overly deprived, either. How do you go about it, then? There are a few key elements. First, you have to trust the process. It takes time to achieve a balance of spending as little as possible on things you dont cherish and spending adequate and reasonable money on things you do cherish. Its a target youre never going to perfectly hit, and youre going to miss it widely sometimes, especially at first. Its okay. Give it time. Trust that youre going to eventually hone in on a much healthier balance, but that missing it, especially at first, doesnt mean that the whole idea is bogus. Second, you have to be a little introspective and really listen to yourself. The two things you really need to pay attention to are the sense that something you really care about is missing in your life and also the underlying stress that comes from financial insecurity and not achieving or making progress toward financial goals. Those two feelings tend to work in opposition to each other. If you listen to one too much, the other one gets cranky and starts to act up. The feeling that tells you that something is missing tends to be louder and more obvious, but its a bit easier to work with. The feeling that your finances are in a shambles is less obvious but more corrosive, as it fills your life with a low but slowly rising level of stress. It doesnt shout at you all at once it just slowly makes things miserable. Look for both. Listen for both. If one is loud and the other is quiet, its a sign that youre out of balance and you should move slowly in the other direction. If youre feeling deprived, then you should figure out ways to alleviate that feeling without just opening the floodgates on a spending spree. If youre feeling the corrosiveness of financial stress, you should cut back on many things that arent obviously a key source of contentment in your life. Third, you have to be willing to really consider whether you value something or not, and accept that you might not actually value some things as much as you thought you did. A huge part of this whole process is figuring out what you actually care about. That doesnt mean what you think that you should care about. That doesnt mean what you think others care about. That doesnt mean what you cared about in the past and keep involved with even though your passion as faded. That doesnt mean what pop culture is telling you that you should care about. All of those things are false signals. Theyre the things that drain our money without any real return for us. Theyre the source of that acidic financial misery and stress. What you need to think about is whether or not you truly care about the things youre spending money on now. Do that with every purchase, before you do it, as youre doing it, and after you make it. Is this something that you really cherish? Or is it something that you think you ought to cherish but actually do not? Maybe you used to cherish it but youve changed or your life has changed. Maybe you feel social or cultural pressure to cherish it but you actually dont. Pay attention to that. Dont spend money on things you used to cherish but dont any more. Dont spend money on things that your friends or society or your culture tell you that you should cherish but arent highly meaningful for you. Use that litmus test for everything you buy beyond the basic essentials, and use it repeatedly (because you do change as a person). Fourth, cut back on everything, but pay attention to which cuts actually hurt and be unafraid to roll them back. The strategy that works best for me is to say no to spending, then consider whether Im really missing out on something I cherish later, and restore it if I do come to that realization. Yes, there are times when I skip out on something that I later decide is really important to me, but its far more frequent that I say no to something and then promptly forget about it. Youre far better off changing direction on 5% or 10% of your spending than overspending 90% of the time. Finally, you have to be willing to see the benefits of responsible spending. Part of the reason that people err on the side of spending on things that theyre uncertain about is that they often dont see the benefits of not doing so. It is very easy to lose track of the benefits of responsible spending because theyre not obvious at first glance, or they appear to be just a drop in the bucket. The biggest non-obvious benefit of being very responsible with your spending is that you basically kill ongoing financial stress, which is corrosive to almost everything it touches. Financial stress is a kind of subtle background stress that ends up weighing in on all kinds of decisions in your life, making you feel subtly on edge and stressed out about things as simple as checking the mail or telling your partner about something cool you did today. Cutting down on financial stress (and eventually eliminating it) is an enormous life benefit, but its not an in-your-face benefit like the benefit of making a purchase in the moment is. Theres also a sense of achievement and accomplishment and progress that comes from steadily paying off debts and steadily filling up your retirement savings. Step by step, the future doesnt feel like a place for wishful thinking; rather, a bright future begins to feel inevitable. Thats incredibly powerful for your sense of well-being. Thats something worth cherishing on its own. So, here are three things to think about. First of all, the best financial life is one where you spend adequately on things you cherish and spend absolutely minimally on things you dont. In a healthy life, this leaves you with a financial surplus, which you can then apply to something youll likely cherish in a less obvious way, which is paying off debts and improving your financial security. Second, a big part of that balance is understanding what it is that you cherish and what you dont. People often become unclear on this, particularly in the heat of the moment. Influences such as your past passions, your personal relationships, and the constant nudging of culture can make you feel like you cherish something for a short while, but it doesnt last. Understanding what it is that you cherish now is important, and that takes some honest reflection. Finally, this is an ongoing, imperfect process. There are times where youre going to miss the target. Thats okay. When you feel like youre missing out on something you cherish, listen to that. When you feel like youve overspent on something, listen to that. When you feel financial stress affecting your emotions or your relationships or your state of mind, definitely listen to that. Youre a marksman honing in on a very small target and what youre hoping to do is get consistently close to it. Good luck! https://www.thesimpledollar.com/things-we-dont-cherish-and-things-we-do/

The perfect is the enemy of the good

Im home! Over the past two weeks, I drove 1625 miles across across seven southeastern states. I had a blast hanging out with readers, friends, and colleagues. Plus, it was fun to explore some parts of the country that Kim and I skipped during our RV trip a few years ago. Most fun of all, though, was talking to dozens of different people about money. After two weeks of money talk, I have a lot to think about. I was struck, for instance, by how many people are paralyzed by the need to make perfect decisions. Theyre afraid of making mistakes with their money, so instead of moving forward, they freeze like a deer in headlights. It might seem strange to claim that the pursuit of perfection prevents people from achieving their financial aims, but its true. Long-time readers know that this is a key part of my financial philosophy: The perfect is the enemy of the good. Here, for instance, is a typical reader email: Thirty-plus years ago I was making much less money than when I retired so my tax rate was lower. I sometimes wonder now if it would have been better to pay the taxes at the time I earned the money and invest and pay taxes all along rather than deferring the taxes. You can make yourself crazy thinking about stuff like that! Yes, you can make yourself crazy thinking about stuff like that. This reader retired early and has zero debt. Theyre in great financial shape. Yet theyre fretting over the fact that tax-deferred investments might not have been the optimal choice back in 1986. Regret is one of the perils of perfectionism. There are others. Lets look at why so many smart people find themselves fighting the urge to be perfect. Maximizers and Satisficers For a long time, I was a perfectionist. When I had to make a decision, I only wanted to choose the best. At the same time, I was a deeply unhappy man who never got anything done. Although I didnt realize it at the time, the pursuit of perfection was the root of my problems. In 2005, I read The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz. This fascinating book explores how a culture of abundance actually robs us of satisfaction. We believe more options will make us happier, but the increased choice actually has the opposite effect. Especially for perfectionists. [embedded content] Schwartz divides the world into two types of people: maximizers and satisficers. Heres how he describes the difference: Choosing wisely begins with developing a clear understanding of your goals. And the first choice you must make is between the goal of choosing the absolute best and choosing something that is good enough. If you seek and accept only the best, you are a maximizerMaximizers need to be assured that every purchase or decision was the best that could be made. In other words, maximizers are perfectionists. The alternative to maximizing is to be a satisficer, writes Schwartz. To satisfice is to settle for something that is good enough and not worry about the possibility that there might be something better. To maximizers, this sounds like heresy. Settle for good enough? Good enough seldom is! proclaims the perfectionist. To her, the satisficer seems to lack standards. But thats not true. A satisficer does have standards, and theyre often clearly defined. The difference is that a satisficer is content with excellent while a maximizer is on a quest for perfect. And heres the interesting thing: All of this maximizing in pursuit of perfection actually leads to less satisfaction and happiness, not more. Heres what Schwartz says about his research: People with high maximization [tendencies] experienced less satisfaction with life, were less optimistic, and were more depressed than people with low maximization [tendencies]Maximizers are much more susceptible than satisficers to all forms of regret. Schwartz is careful to note that being a maximizer is correlated with unhappiness; theres no evidence of a causal relationship. Still, it seems safe to assume that there is a connection. Ive seen it in my own life. Maximizing in Real Life

For a long, long time, I was a maximizer. When I had to make any sort of decision, I researched the hell out of it. I wanted to buy and do and have only the best. But you know what? No matter how much time I put into picking the perfect product, it always fell short of my expectations. Thats because theres no such thing as a perfect product. In the olden days, for instance, if I needed to buy a dishwasher, I would make an elaborate spreadsheet to collate all of my options. Id then consult the latest Consumer Reports buying guide, check Amazon reviews, and search for other resources to help guide my decision. Id enter all of the data into my spreadsheet, then try to find the best option. The trouble? There was rarely one best option for any choice I was trying to make. One dishwasher might use less energy while another produced cleaner dishes. This dishwasher might have special wine holders while that had the highest reliability scores. How was I supposed to find the perfect machine? Why couldnt one manufacturer combine everything into one Super Dishwasher? It was an impossible quest, and I know that now. Nowadays, Im mostly able to ignore my maximizing tendencies. Ive taught myself to be a satisficer. When I had to replace my dead dishwasher three years ago, I didnt aim for perfection. Instead, I made a plan and stuck to it. First, I set a budget. Because it would cost about $700 to repair our old dishwasher, I allowed myself that much for a new appliance.Next, I picked one store and shopped from its universe of available dishwashers.After that, I limited myself to only a handful of brands, the ones whose quality I trusted most.Finally, I gave myself a time limit. Instead of spending days trying to find the Best Dishwasher Ever, I allocated a couple of hours on a weekend afternoon to find an acceptable model. Armed with my Consumer Reports buying guide (and my phone so that I could look stuff up online), I marched into the local Sears outlet center. In less than an hour, I had narrowed my options from thirty dishwashers to three. With Kims help, I picked a winner. The process was quick and easy. The dishwasher has served us well for the past three years, and Ive had zero buyers remorse. A Trivial Example At Camp FI in January, one of the attendees explained that hes found freedom through letting go of trivial decisions. For things that wont have a lasting impact on his life, he doesnt belabor his options. Instead, he makes a quick decision and moves on. In restaurants, for instance, he doesnt look at every item on the menu. He doesnt try to optimize his order. Instead, he makes a quick pass through the list, then picks the first thing that catches his eye. It sounds silly, he told me, but doing this makes a huge difference to my happiness. For the past four months, Ive been trying this technique. You know what? It works! I now make menu choices in seconds rather than minutes, and my dining experience is better because of it. This is a trivial example, I know, but its also illustrative of the point Im trying to make. Perfect Procrastinators Studies have shown that perfectionists are more likely to have physical and mental problems than those who are open-minded and flexible. Theres another drawback to the pursuit of perfect: It costs time and lots of it. To find the best option, whether its the top dishwasher or the ideal index fund, can take days or weeks or months. (And sometimes its an impossible mission.) The pursuit of perfection is an exercise in diminishing returns: A bit of initial research is usually enough to glean the basics needed to make a smart decision.A little additional research is enough to help you separate the wheat from the chaff.A moderate amount of time brings you to the point where you can make an informed decision and obtain quality results.Theoretically, if you had unlimited time, you might find the perfect option. The more time you spend on research, the better your results are likely to be. But each unit of time you spend in search of higher quality offers less reward than the unit of time before.

Quality is important. You should absolutely take time to research your investment and buying decisions. But remember that perfect is a moving target, one thats almost impossible to hit. Its usually better to shoot for good enough today than to aim for a perfect decision next week. Procrastination is one common consequence of pursuing perfection: You can come up with all sorts of reasons to put off establishing an emergency fund, to put off cutting up your credit cards, to put off starting a retirement account. But most of the time, your best choice is to start now. Who cares if you dont find the best interest rate? Who cares if you dont find the best mutual fund? Youve found some good ones, right? Pick one. Get in the game. Just start. Starting plays a greater role in your success than any other factor. There will always be time to optimize in the future. When you spend so much time looking for the best choice that you never actually do anything, youre sabotaging yourself. The perfect is the enemy of the good. Final Thoughts If your quest for the best is making you unhappy, then its hurting rather than helping. If your desire to get things exactly right is preventing you from taking any sort of positive action, then youre better off settling for good enough. If you experience regret because you didnt make an optimal choice in the past, force yourself to look at the sunny side of your decision. Train yourself to be a satisficer. Ask yourself what good enough would mean each time youre faced with a decision. What would it mean to accept that instead of perfection?If you must pursue perfection, focus on the big stuff first. I get a lot of email from readers who fall into the optimization trap. They spend too much time and energy perfecting small, unimportant things newspaper subscriptions, online savings accounts, etc. instead of the things that matter most, such as housing and transportation costs. Fix the broken things first, then optimize the big stuff. After all of that is done, then it makes sense to get the small things perfect.Practice refinement. Start with good enough, then make incremental improvements over time. Say youre looking for a new credit card. Instead of spending hours searching for the best option, find a good option and go with it. Then, in the months and years ahead, keep an eye out for better cards. When you find one you like, make the switch. Make perfection a long-term project.Dont dwell on the past. If youve made mistakes, learn from them and move on. If youve made good but imperfect decisions such as the Money Boss reader who wishes they hadnt saved so much in tax-deferred accounts celebrate what you did right instead of dwelling on the minor flaws in the results.Embrace the imperfection. Everyone makes mistakes even billionaires like Warren Buffett. Dont let one slip-up drag you down. One key difference between those who succeed and those who dont is the ability to recover from a setback and keep marching toward a goal. Use failures to learn what not to do next time. I dont think perfection is a bad thing. Its a noble goal. Its not wrong to want the best for yourself and your family. But I think its important to recognize when the pursuit of perfection stands in your way rather than helps you build a better life. https://www.getrichslowly.org/perfect-is-the-enemy-of-the-good/