Overrefine for Dummies

Overrefine is a word that describes a behavior or action when someone pays too much attention to small, unnecessary details or tries to make something more perfect than it needs to be. It's like when you are coloring a picture, and instead of just filling in the spaces with color, you spend a lot of time trying to make each line perfectly straight or each section of color exactly the same shade.

Imagine you are cooking a simple meal, like making a sandwich. Normally, you would take a couple of minutes to put together the ingredients, spreading some mayo or mustard on the bread, adding some veggies and slices of meat, and voila! You have a delicious sandwich. However, if you were to spend an hour carefully arranging each slice of tomato, removing every tiny seed, or meticulously measuring the thickness of each layer of meat, that would be an example of overrefining your sandwich-making process.

Now, overrefining can also happen in other areas of life, such as when you are writing an essay for school. Let's say you have finished writing your essay and it's already good, but instead of just checking for any spelling mistakes or grammar errors, you obsessively read and reread each sentence countless times until it loses its original meaning. This would be an example of overrefining your essay, as you are focusing too much on small details and forgetting the bigger picture.

Simply put, when we overrefine, we go beyond what is necessary or natural, spending too much time and effort on small things that don't really matter in the grand scheme of things. It's like going down a rabbit hole of perfectionism, where even the tiniest imperfections become the main focus, making the whole process longer and sometimes less enjoyable.

So, when someone tells you to be careful not to overrefine something, they're reminding you to not get too caught up in minor details or unnecessary perfectionism. It's important to find a balance between striving for excellence and knowing when to let go and move forward.