Maybe You Should Take it "Too Far"

Typically, we want to “get things right”. Whether it stems from a deep desire to succeed, to fit in, or because of a sneaky tendency toward perfection…getting it right is often the goal. 

I wish I was someone who lived to get it wrong without a care in the world. But I’m just not that girl, and I don’t think there’s any problem with that. It's sorta a 2023 human thing to do.

But in getting it right, we have expectations that let us down. It’s what we get wrong about getting it right.

We either want to get it right on the first try. We shouldn’t have to mess up once much less twenty times in order to nail it.

We want to get it right, like yesterday. It shouldn’t have to take very long.

We want to get it right without having to sacrifice too much in order to get there.

When we have these expectations, it often means that we didn’t go far enough. We didn’t stay in the game long enough to see how just a little more testing, effort or input would get us there.

Which is why I love, love, love “overcorrecting”. It gets such a bad rap! But really it’s just a step away from hitting the bullseye. 

People who overcorrect get it wrong, so they go “too far” to get it right. Some might call that overcorrecting. I just call that part of the process, a road to the good stuff. 

A pendulum will swing far to the left, then far to the right, until it eventually rests. We’re not so different. We’re living in a beautiful set of contradictions that allows us to try, fail, reverse, undo, and change. Wide to the left, wide to the right, and eventually we’ll get to center.

That’s the thing about humans, we get to change.

When I was working with my writing coach, I noticed my loveeee for overcorrecting and my distaste for the fact I was doing it. In one scene she asked for more location-specific historical details, and you can be damn sure that I did the most. As in, way way too much. We cut about 80% of that and at first I freaked out at how badly I overcorrected. But that 20% was wonderful and additive and good. If I hadn’t of overcorrected, I wouldn’t have gotten that scene to exactly where it needed to be.

I’ve done this in job changes, in the way I show up in relationships, in my health. I’ve taken the feedback and RUN with it only to realize…nope, that’s not it. I went too far. But the beauty in that overcorrection is that I had a perfect view of the sweet spot. It wasn’t until going too far that I understood what was far enough. 

Clawbacks are easy.  I don’t think we should be scared of overcorrecting, of going too far, and then having to undo a little or a lot. I think we should embrace it. 

There’s a real beauty in going all out. Uninhibited. IN THE GAME. Actually fucking trying. 

There’s a vulnerability in trying… and trying “too hard”… and trying “too much”. I respect anyone who is willing to do it because it means you got feedback and yet you didn’t quit. Instead you kept going real hard – and ya maybe too hard – but I’m sure within a few iterations you totally nailed it.

Not on the first try. Not on the second try. But on the try that came just after you overcorrected.

Go ahead, try too hard. Just don’t overcorrect while driving on the road ;)

Woman on