Perfectionism

Perfectionism is the next factor that prevents people from completing life story preservation projects. Too many people believe that a life story has to be a literary memoir, a comprehensive biography or a complete accounting of their life.

Think back to our ancestors. If we had but one page survive from a great-grandmother that said nothing more than "Joe went out to the fields to day to plow, little Mary's fever still hasn't broken, the blacksmith in town died, and we still don't expect cousin Jim to come back from the war . . ." Would we not think of document as the most amazing family treasure? Yet in our own generation we tend to think that "oh, I am just not that interesting . . . no one would want to hear it."

Imagine three generations from now when a great-grandson sits down to read a Priceless Legacy LifeStory book and says, "My great-grand father was so interesting. For forty years he drove a fossil fuel burning car to an office in a tall building twenty miles away. He interfaced with his computer by tapping on a letter set device called a key board. That is so cool . . . and yet I recognize so much of myself in him!"

Priceless Legacy removes the barrier of "perfectionism" by making the LifeStory Package creation process very easy for the client, subject and Legacy Consultant. We also encourage people to focus on the key stories and in most cases describe the highlights of their life story in a two hour interview. It is not at all that some people might want to talk longer. Rather, it is the observation that while most people put off the creation of the "perfect" memoir; they end up with nothing when time or ability runs out. Our client and subjects are universally ecstatic with their LifeStory books. The only failure or disappointment is not starting and completing one.

The "perfect" book that is neither started nor finished is of no use to anyone.