How to stop being stressed by perfectionism, but keep the good parts

I'm definitely not telling here how to get rid of perfectionism, just how to balance it and stop being stressed by it. Keep the ability of seeing perfection and striving for it, but drop the stress.

How bad it is

You hear a lot these days that perfectionism is bad. The main reason it was bad for me, was because it was stressful. When I thought about releasing my side project, I cringed. I thought how people would think it's ugly and not polished, and they'd hate it and say bad things about it. I even thought of changing the architecture (would be lots of work) to make it closer to being perfect.

How good can it be

But I no longer think in that way. Now I think that if my side project solves an important problem, people would be forgiving of its issues. I am forgiving of its issues myself, because I have the same attitude. That doesn't prevent me from seeing that's it's not perfect and trying to make it better.

I went from "it's ugly and not polished" to "it's not perfect, but it solves a problem, so it's fine".

How to get there

How did I get there? There are two parts to it:

1. Getting into mindset of solving problems by looking for problems in everyday life.
2. Getting into a habit of solving problems every day.

Thinking of solving problems balances perfectionism, by offering something else of value (beside perfectionism) to you and others! Even if the solution isn't perfect, but it still solves the problem, it's not all bad. If the only value you see (as I saw it) is to make a perfect product, you're going to be stressed.

My routine for solving problems:

1. Whenever I think of a problem, I write it down in Drafts. If you're not on Mac/iOS, you might use Evernote.
2. Every day, for one pomodoro, I go through the stuff I recorded in Drafts and resolve it. For example, I chatted with a friend about an alternative to tea, and he suggested rose hip as (non-caffeine). I wrote it down in Drafts, and I'm going to investigate buying it.

I suffered from perfectionism a lot (being stressed and anxious), and I want to help you stop suffering from it, while keeping its good sides still. Good sides of perfectionism are the ability to see perfection and striving to improve your work.

I'd be keen to hear how did it work (or didn't) for you.