Some of my best friends are perfectionists...

...but I'm not.

I'm a starter. I love the adrenaline rush of a new activity, a new project. Sitting down and completing the task? Making it perfect? That's just hard work. I'm trying to polish up 7 songs for emu's next kid's cd - it's killing me (hence this post). Why can't I just start work on songs for the next one? I'm three-quarters of the way through writing a term of Sunday School lessons. Guess how much I want to do the last quarter?

But it will be okay. I'll get the songs written and I'll get the lessons done. Other people (perfectionists!) will impose their deadlines on me and I'll meet them.

I'm glad I'm a starter. Starters (well, starters who have a social conscience and don't like to let the side down) get things done.

Starters write more blog posts. They might not be thoroughly researched, drafted and re-drafted then published word-perfect, but they'll get them up there reasonably frequently.

Starters play music in church less stressily. We don't care about getting it note-perfect. If the chords are right, she'll be okay. Need it played in a different key? Hey I can do that! On the spot transposition will be a buzz! And new songs? Bring them on!

Starters don't balk when they're asked to do something. In fact, being asked to do something is like being given a gift! (So long as we get to do it our way!)

Starters are fine with making mistakes. We get our buzz from the initial idea more than from the finished product, so a few mistakes along the way are no big deal.

Perfectionists, on the other hand, don't get stuff done so easily. And it's not because they can't finish tasks, it's because they can't start them.

If a perfectionist is asked to do something, the first thing they ask themselves is whether they are able to do it well. It's a silly question to ask because mostly you don't know if you can do something till you've tried. And can you do it 'well'? What does 'well' mean anyway? Perfectionists tend to not start things, just in case they might not be able to succeed. I think they miss out on all the fun in life.

Perfectionists play the piano very well. Much better than me. Or they would play it well if they actually played it at all. They tend not to play in church because of the high likelihood of making a mistake. They are also annoyingly committed to the dots on the page. Reading the dots on the page makes learning a new song an enormous task.

And blogging? Perfectionists update their blogs once a day or once a week or once a fortnight. You know exactly when the post will pop up. Pin point accuracy! 3, 2, 1... We have a blog post! And it's a great read. Measured. Considered. A perfectionist blog challenge: tomorrow, don't proof anything before you post it, and write an extra two posts, just to surprise us! (Perfectionists, if you take up my challenge, I'll try to let a post sit on my computer for 10 minutes before I hit 'publish'...)

Starters and perfectionists live on opposite sides of the world. We don't understand each other. We annoy each other. But we shouldn't. Any task that I've ever done really well, I've done with a perfectionist holding my hand. I've dragged her through the initial 2 meters (and believe me, she was heavy!) and she's dragged me through the next 2kms.

Are you a starter? Or a perfectionist? Or something else?

[True to my personality, I just made all of that up. I don't have any real definitions that I'm working from here. I based it all on observing myself and a couple of friends... Shoot me down!]