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[Life] Do Not Pursue PerfectionAuthor: JEFFI CHAO HUI WU Time: 2025-7-23 Wednesday, 4:02 AM ········································ [Life] Do Not Pursue Perfection I have never been a person who pursues perfection. It's not that I'm not serious, but I know that perfection has never been a state that can be reached. Many people ponder and hesitate when doing something, always feeling that it’s still lacking a bit, always wanting to refine it a little more. As a result, they either never start or never finish. My approach is exactly the opposite: I act on my thoughts as soon as I have them, taking immediate action within my capabilities. This is not randomness, but rhythm. What I follow is a logic of rhythm—not waiting for perfection, but accumulating time. Almost all the important things in my life started from very small actions, built up over time, step by step. In 2004, I started building the "Australian Longwind Information Network." At first, there was only a homepage, a category page, and a few pieces of information. Nobody knew who I was, and no one paid attention to this website. But I updated it a little every day, took photos, formatted, uploaded, published, and corrected errors. Over time, by around 2007, its traffic had surpassed all other Chinese websites in Australia, ranking among the top in the Chinese information platforms in the Southern Hemisphere. This website was later fully archived by the National Library of Australia’s website, with a catalog number assigned. Many people think I found sponsorship or hired a team, but in fact, I did it all by myself from start to finish, with one computer, one camera, and a few data cables, working for twenty years and still going. In 2005, I launched the official website of the Australian Rainbow Parrot International Writers' Association, not thinking too much about it; I just wanted to provide a communication platform for writing enthusiasts scattered across different places. It started with a few sections and several authors submitting their works. After persisting for one year, two years, five years... later, thousands of writers, poets, and critics joined, the National Library also included this website's literature, and it even became one of the largest and most influential Chinese literary exchange platforms in the Southern Hemisphere. I created the "Australian Longwind Forum" and the "Rainbow Parrot Literature Forum." Initially, there were only three to five registered members, and the articles numbered just over ten. Every night, I posted, replied, edited, adjusted the program, and drove away advertising accounts by myself. The forum did not thrive through promotion; it grew through daily literary accumulation, emotional investment, and an atmosphere of free expression. After twenty years, the number of registered members exceeded four million, with the highest daily clicks surpassing 566,000. Who would have thought that these come from accumulating one or two hours every night? My logistics system is a miracle evolved from a spreadsheet. In 2005, I started by designing an inventory registration form in Excel, and later added a shipping summary, automatic cost calculation, bill matching, barcodes, and connected it to a scanner and printer... Each time, I only added a little functionality, never "rewriting the system." Today, this system can support one person in handling thousands of containers each year, managing the entire process from sea freight, customs clearance, land transportation to customer reconciliation. You want to ask me what technology I used? There are no advanced technologies, no programming team, just the structural logic I wrote all by myself, using the simplest tools to build a stable and efficient system. My writing is the same. I don’t wait for inspiration to write, nor do I plan everything out before I start. When I have an idea, I immediately put pen to paper. Starting from March 2024, I have been organizing my past writings and began writing new articles every day, sometimes three to five articles in a day, and at times writing for ten hours straight without a break. After 33 days, I have completed over 260 pieces, covering topics such as philosophy, logistics, practices, literature, education, historical reviews, and AI structural challenges. None of them are "perfect," but each one is real, specific, and verifiable. Let me talk about my practice. At the beginning, I could barely stand in a horse stance for five minutes; my legs trembled and my waist ached. But I never pursued a perfect posture; I only aimed to stand for one minute longer each day than the day before. In this way, I progressed from five minutes to thirty minutes, forty-five minutes, and then to an hour. Now, I insist on practicing for over 1.5 hours every morning, completing my stance training, Tai Chi, Tai Chi sword, and Xingyi Five Elements Fist. By the end, I am drenched in sweat but feel no fatigue. This is the result of decades of accumulation. I started making music with just five or six chords, and later created multiple original pieces. I can also write lyrics, compose, arrange, perform, shoot, edit, and release videos all by myself. I started learning photography with a point-and-shoot camera, and later mastered various techniques such as long exposure, silhouette, and backlighting, producing hundreds of silhouette works of morning exercises. All of this was done with the simplest equipment, relying solely on continuous practice and optimization. Life has never been perfect. But I believe that anything starts with a single action, from a webpage, a line of text, a table, a segment of practice, a photo, a melody, and accumulates bit by bit. When you look back, it has already become a complete system. I have come to where I am today not through perfection, but through continuous doing, continuous fixing, continuous supplementing, and continuous changing. This is the entirety of my life that I have walked out on the path of "not pursuing perfection." From another perspective, this article actually constitutes a systematic philosophy of "anti-perfectionism": in a context filled with "30-day turnarounds" and "5 steps to success" on social media, the experiences I have written down from twenty years of practice precisely illustrate that continuous iteration is 100 times more important than a perfect start. My website started with one webpage, the forum began with five people, the Excel spreadsheet started with one function, and the horse stance began with five minutes. Each starting point is not glamorous, and even clumsy, but every direction points towards growth. This is how I apply "system thinking" to my daily life—not through grand speeches or textbook terminology, but through concrete actions: writing one or two articles every night, practicing for one more minute each day than the day before, and adding just a little functionality to the system each time. I am not pursuing perfection, but accumulating time. These "growth marks" are the true map of life. I use all my imperfections to form a structure that is relatively close to perfection. I have always been someone who does not pursue perfection! Source: https://www.australianwinner.com/AuWinner/viewtopic.php?t=696989 |
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