Are names really as important as we make them out to be? Is there really a reason for hundreds if not thousands of guides on how to find the perfect name for something? What even is this so called ‘perfect’ name? What is perfectionism?
Photo Credit: lorraine santana
There is no such thing as perfect
While the word perfect has a nice ring to it, it can be quite harmful. This is especially the case when we try to achieve perfect results.
Instead of simply trying to do our best work, we believe in the romantic idea of achieving perfectionism. We become perfectionists. The truth is though there is no such thing as perfect. We can never get things just right. Perfect is an unrealistic ideal. It is in my opinion a state that cannot be reached. The word exists only to describe an ideal, impossible to reach state.
Perfectionism is as bad as or even worse than procrastination.
Perfectionism and Procrastination – An unbeatable combination
We all know how bad procrastination is and I already outlined above why I think perfectionism is bad as well.
Together the two are even worse. When I started this blog I did procrastinate quite a bit. I’d tell myself I needed to carefully plan things, which was my first mistake. Instead of simply writing blog posts or at least drafts, I gathered topics to write about, made up categories and took notes. I remember even reading about how to write great post headlines for hours.
What was even worse though was when perfectionism struck:
It was time to find a name for my blog. Instead of simply going for a good name, I wanted a name that was perfect. It should incorporate everything I wanted to write about, while being short and memorable. Of course the .com-domain had to be available as well.
Now whenever I tried to find a name I would spend hours reading about the topic. I would check out lists of words, names, try to get inspiration from other blogs or simply check out lists of available domains. At the end of the day though I would never be satisfied with what I came up with. There was always just a little something that was missing. The name just wasn’t perfect.
Stop being perfect!
It was a friend of mine who helped me overcome this. I had been talking to her about starting a blog for half a year now and would often complain to her about my inability to finding the right name. One night she had enough and almost exploded on me. She was very annoyed hearing about the topic again and told me:
‘Stop being perfect already and just start!’
She continued and told me that if I’d simply started the blog half a year ago, I’d by now already have a decent sized audience.
To tell you the truth it hit me pretty hard, because she was completely right. I had spent month not doing anything and not taken action, because of not finding a name. I felt ridiculous.
A change of approach
First of all I made it clear to myself that there was no such thing as a perfect name. What I did was, that I gave myself an ultimatum. I had to find a name for my blog until the night was over and register the domain.
I’d love to tell you that it only took me a few minutes to come up with a name and was done by it then and there, but getting rid of old habits is never easy.
I instead told myself that my top priority was to find a name that I was able to register. I decided to look for a list of ‘beautiful’ English words. Then I simply combined the words I liked with the word writing. The name I went with was ‘Ethereal Writing’ simply because I liked it well enough and the domain was available.
Surprising Result
What was the most interesting thing though was how quickly the name grew on me.
Ethereal as a word is often related to the color of the sky, the universe and the ether. It is not seldom related to bluish and purple colors. That’s when I took a look and found out that the color purple represents creativity, imagination and the wise.
I was rather surprised to see, that the name I had chosen was actually very fitting for my blog. After only a few days I realized just how well the name sounded and what a good choice it was.
It had of course to do with the general feeling of finally having found a name for my blog and not so much accidentally picking the perfect name. That is the point I am trying to make here. It is often the case that you can find surprising or even accidental connections between the name you pick and the content you plan to write about. At times though even random names or seemingly unrelated names can work really well.
Always Take Action
The most important thing is though that you don’t waste your time trying to be perfect like I did. In the end I found a satisfactory name by just going for it and forcing myself to take action and pick one.
While names are important and you should be happy with it, at the end of the day it is just a name. Never let it stop you from getting your work done. It doesn’t matter if it’s the name for a story, a novel or a blog.