perfectionism, at bottom, is a fear-driven striving to avoid the experience of failure at all costs. At its extremes, it is an exhausting and permane… - Oliver Burkeman

email, that ingenious twentieth-century invention whereby any random person on the planet can pester you, at any time they like, and at almost no cost to themselves, by means of a digital window that sits inches from your nose, or in your pocket, throughout your working day, and often on weekends, too. The "input" side of this arrangement — the number of emails that you could, in principle, receive — is essentially infinite. But the "output" side — the number of messages you'll have time to read properly, reply to, or just make a considered decision to delete — is strictly finite.

Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people,' the infinitely more sensible essayist Anne Lamott observes in her book on writing, Bird by Bird. 'It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life … perfectionism is based on the obsessive belief that if you run carefully enough, hitting each stepping stone just right, you won't have to die. The truth is that you will die anyway and that a lot of people who aren't even looking at their feet are going to do a whole lot better than you, and have a lot more fun while they're doing it.

But the undodgeable reality of a finite human life is that you are going to have to choose.