We all have a perfectionist in us. We want to BE the best. We want to BRING the best to our clients. Being a perfectionist is having a true business mindset. In theory, perfectionism in business is what should make us thrive in business, right?
Well, not really. It turns out that perfectionism holds you back in your business, and especially as a small business owner. You do everything yourself. You hold everything close to your chest. You micromanage, and then, you burn out.
Entrepreneurs have a perfectionist problem. I have some advice on how to handle that.
Annnd… GO!
You think and think and play it safe for a long time. You’re waiting until the perfect time to put out that new process because YOU haven’t looked at it yet.
I have news for you, my friend. You’re playing it safe. Too safe. What can you do about it?
Just start. It’s as simple as that.
I know how much you want to think over every single decision. Like I always mention, with 35 years in business, I’ve been there. You want to put your mark on every corner of your business as if to say, “I was here. I did this all myself.”
You need to really question what you’re doing and if it’s helping you grow. Is that badge of honour from doing it all and doing it perfectly really worth it if you’re spreading yourself thin?
Start, Then Keep Going
Every day, week, or month that you delay launching something just means that you’re losing more momentum.
That proposal’s not right? You stop yourself and want to make it perfect. That social media post isn’t quite perfect enough. You’ll sit on it and come back to it in a few days. It’s the illusion of being busy.
Starting stops the procrastination cycle. The sooner you start, the sooner you grow.
Delegate to Grow
This is where you need to really extend your faith. By delegating to other people, you’re actually getting a lot out of it:
1. The more people you bring into the fold, the more ideas you’ll get for your business.
2. There are more perspectives on how you can position yourself, whether in the market or on how to improve your product or service.
3. You’re building a team of people that support your business, however that looks.
Often, you’re so close to the thing that you’ve created that you might not see the downsides to it. That makes sense – it’s your baby. But your baby can cost you time, money, energy, relationships, and most of all, opportunities.
The biggest opportunity might even be #3, building that team. You can even do a trial run before you work with them for the long run. Watch what happens and how they affect your business.
Procrastination=Fear
Perfectionism leads to procrastination. Then, procrastination delays everything until it’s all in the “right place.” Procrastination is really just fear in a fancy disguise.
It’s that “right place,” or having “high standards,” despite nothing ever getting done. Nothing is ever good enough.
Face your fear! Do the damn thing! You’ll be happy you did.
Start to be Great
“You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great”
-Zig Ziglar
I really like this quote. It’s straight to the point and pretty much says what I said, to just start. Of course, I’m not Zig Ziglar, but I have some knowledge to share too.
I’ll round up that knowledge into bite-sized points for you here:
- Get out of perfection.
- Get into action.
- Just start.
- Don’t be so precious with every small detail.
- Delegate, delegate, delegate!
- Change your mindset to a growth mindset.
I have a challenge for you as well. Think of one thing that you've been procrastinating on, one thing you've been postponing because you think it's not perfect or you're not ready. It's not perfect.
Go out and do it. Just start. Launch it. Send it. Post it. Reach out.
“Done” is always better than “perfect.”
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