foundationMap Minimum Criteria
Write three binary criteria for success before starting work; stop once all are met.
⏱ 5m⚡ low
Utility Floor Mapping
Protocol
The Optimal Satisficer
Stop burning 80% of your bandwidth on the final 5% of quality. Execute via the utility floor.
Myth
Common Myth
Perfectionism is the highest standard of excellence for high-performance work.
Does this sound familiar?
- Analysis Paralysis: Inability to start until the path is perfectly clear.
- The Draft Graveyard: Folders full of 90% finished projects that were never shipped.
- Indecision Fatigue: Exhaustion from trivial choices like email fonts or restaurant menus.
- Just One More Check: Compulsive re-checking of documents and internal drafts.
- The All-or-Nothing Trap: Viewing a single minor flaw as a total system failure.
Mechanism
The Satisficer Architecture
Click a system to explore its habits
Utility Floor Mapping
Define the minimum standards of 'viable' before execution to prevent goalpost drift.
Diminishing Returns Tracking
Install sensors to detect when margin effort exceeds marginal value.
The 'B-' Execution Loop
Bypass the internal critic by prioritizing shipping volume over perfection.
Perfectionism Quarantine
Contain high-voltage standards to 5% of work; satisfice everything else.
The 'B-' Execution Protocol
Shitty First Draft
20mWrite continuously without backspacing to separate generation from editing.
Sanity Check
5mExpose the draft to a peer for rapid feedback before high-fidelity refinement.
Final Utility Audit
1mCheck against your 3-item Definition of Done. If met, stop processing.
Shipping Ritual
10sPerform a somatic exhale and hit send. The project is officially finished.
Onboarding: Your First 30 Days
Step01
Day 1: Stabilize the Floor
Start by defining success criteria for your very first task today.
Step02
Week 1: Detect the Trance
Set hourly alarms to rate your current achievement value.
Step03
Week 2: Ship Under Pressure
Run the 24-hour deadline sprint to clear your backlog.
Step04
Continuous: Search for Flaws
Practice surfacing and surviving intentional imperfections.
Step05
Reset Architecture
Clear all filters to view the full Optimal Satisficer framework.
"Perfectionism is just fear in really good shoes. It's the belief that if we live perfect, look perfect, and act perfect, we can minimize or avoid the pain of blame, judgment, and shame.
What Others Say
Testimonials
I recognized perfectionism as a handbrake. Shifting to 'B- work' allowed me to build a multi-million dollar coaching business.
Sam Laura Brown
Perfectionism Coach
Protocol Playbooks
Curated sequences of habits designed to be practiced together. Click a playbook to see its cards in the deck below.
5 cards
The 'Ship It' Sprint
Break paralysis and finalize any stalled project within a 24-hour window.
Map Minimum Criteria
Execute the 70% Rule
Draft Shitty First Versions
+2 more habits
5 cards
The 'Deep Work' Fortress
Identify high-value output gates and execute with zero perfectionist distraction.
Cap Priority Items
Log Time-Audit Alarms
Assign Personal SLAs
+2 more habits
5 cards
The 'Recovery' Protocol
Reset the nervous system after a burnout phase and return to steady-state output.
Shake Off Tension
List Daily Neglects
Contain Worry Time
+2 more habits
Quests
Challenges to accelerate your transformation. Click a quest to see its target cards.
Initiation
The Threshold Protocol
Define success criteria, classify decisions, and cap daily priorities to stop the burnout cycle and reclaim bandwidth.
"The first step to efficiency is realizing that 'good enough' is often the optimal state."
FOUNDATION tier streak for 7 days
7 cards
View Quest Cards
System Mastery
The Rapid Shipping Circuit
Master the execution loop by drafting fast, using templates, and seeking rapid feedback at thirty percent completion.
"Speed is a feature. Stop polishing the engine and start driving the vehicle."
Complete The 'B-' Execution Loop system
6 cards
View Quest Cards
Titan Trial
The Architect's Reckoning
Confront the most difficult protocols: abandoning sunk costs and running manual MVPs to prove utility before scaling.
"Only a Titan can walk away from a bad investment and build the next one by hand."
Complete TITAN tier
2 cards
View Quest Cards
The Full Deck
20 habits across 4 core systems
Systems:
Playbooks:
foundation
foundationCheck the Door Type
Classify decisions as Type 2 reversible doors; decide immediately if mistakes are easily undone.
⏱ 30s⚡ low
Utility Floor Mapping
growthExecute the 70% Rule
Launch the moment you possess 70% of the required information; ignore the final 30%.
⏱ 1m⚡ medium
Utility Floor Mapping
growthAssign Personal SLAs
Apply Gold, Silver, or Bronze response tiers to inbound requests based on projected ROI.
⏱ 5m⚡ medium
Utility Floor Mapping
foundationAudit Hourly Value
Compare the cost of minor tweaks against your aspirational hourly rate; stop the fix immediately.
⏱ 10s⚡ low
Diminishing Returns Tracking
foundationCap Priority Items
Limit your daily list to exactly three high-leverage items; treat all other tasks as bonuses.
⏱ 2m⚡ low
Diminishing Returns Tracking
growthLog Time-Audit Alarms
Rate the achievement value of every work hour on a 1-10 scale; pivot if low.
⏱ 30s⚡ medium
Diminishing Returns Tracking
foundationDraft Shitty First Versions
Write continuously for twenty minutes with zero backspacing; value volume over quality initially.
⏱ 20m⚡ low
The 'B-' Execution Loop
foundationAnchor Shipping Rituals
Perform a physical somatic ritual every time you hit send; signal the task is complete.
⏱ 1m⚡ low
The 'B-' Execution Loop
growthInject Intentional Flaws
Leave one minor typo or formatting quirk in internal drafts; survive the shame intentionally.
⏱ varies⚡ medium
The 'B-' Execution Loop
growthDeploy Standard Templates
Fill pre-made scaffolds instead of starting from scratch; trust the existing structure.
⏱ 1m⚡ low
The 'B-' Execution Loop
foundationRecite the B- Mantra
Say 'B- work for B- tasks' aloud when the urge to over-polish arises on low-stakes items.
⏱ 5s⚡ low
Perfectionism Quarantine
foundationShake Off Tension
Stand and shake your limbs for thirty seconds after stressful sessions; close the stress loop.
⏱ 30s⚡ low
Perfectionism Quarantine
growthList Daily Neglects
Explicitly define 3 tasks you will fail at today; control neglect as a strategic choice.
⏱ 5m⚡ medium
Perfectionism Quarantine
masteryContain Worry Time
Defer ruminative worry to a single fifteen-minute daily container; ignore flaws until the timer starts.
⏱ 15m⚡ medium
Perfectionism Quarantine
masteryLoop Rapid Feedback
Expose drafts at 30% completion for a sanity check; fail fast and avoid over-engineering.
⏱ 5m⚡ medium
The 'B-' Execution Loop
masteryPrune via Pareto
Identify and eliminate the bottom 20% of activities yielding only 20% of results.
⏱ 10m⚡ medium
Diminishing Returns Tracking
titanFlush Sunk Costs
Ignore past investment and ask if you would start today; archive stalled projects immediately.
⏱ 2m⚡ medium
Diminishing Returns Tracking
titanHost Bad Art Sessions
Engage in a creative activity with the explicit intention of being terrible at it.
⏱ 15m⚡ high
The 'B-' Execution Loop
titanRun a Concierge MVP
Perform services manually for one customer before building any permanent infrastructure or automation.
⏱ varies⚡ high
Utility Floor Mapping
Sources & References
External reading that informed this stack.
- 01
Maximizing Versus Satisficing: Happiness Is a Matter of Choice
Schwartz et al. (2002)
psycnet.apa.org
- 02
When Choice is Demotivating: Can One Desire Too Much of a Good Thing?
Iyengar & Lepper (2000)
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- 03
Wait for 70% of Information
Jeff Bezos (2016 Letter to Shareholders)
aboutamazon.com
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