Overcoming Perfectionism: How to Move Your Business Forward
We all want to be good at what we do. Great, even. But too often we end up in procrastination land. We have big goals, ambitions and plans, and we end up on Amazon buying rugs we don’t need or compulsively checking email or really ANYTHING other than the things we need to be focusing on to move our business forward.
Why?
Especially in the beginning stages of our business, why don’t we have the discipline? We are the only employee! If not us, then who? Sometimes, we are our own worst enemies when it comes to time management.
But dig a little deeper you’ll see this tendency is more than what it seems and it’s often rooted in a deep-seated psychological stronghold: perfectionism.
The Perfectionism Trap
In order to lead your business and especially in order to lead others, you need to be a good leader. And I’m here to tell you–whether that sits easy with you or not, you ARE a leader.
You lead a business that came from nothing. A spark. An idea. You took it and you made it real. You ARE a leader. Now we just need to work on how to be a better one.
Decisive leaders don’t belabor the decision in search of evasive perfection. They recognize that there is a cost to perfectionism. Instead, they move forward and continually improve. – The CEO Next Door, Botelho & Powell.
This is huge. The original quote didn’t have that middle sentence in bold but I took that liberty because it’s that important.
The Cost of Perfectionism in Business
Real talk: your perfectionism is costing you action.
Without action and forward momentum your business will fail. And lack of action– doing the work, making it happen, being disciplined, writing the social post, whatever that may be– is lack of progress and it’s costing you.
Sure, there are times when done is NOT better than close-to-perfect. But for a lot of us, especially us women business owners, the trap of everything needing to be perfect is holding us back in a big way. From leadership, from growing our businesses. From living life to the fullest.
Three Tips for Making Better Decisions Faster
Here are 3 tips that Botelho & Powell lay out to help you make decisions faster and with better results:
Does this decision need to be made now, or can I wait until later? Determine the COST to taking more time to deliberate.
Will waiting bring you additional information/insights/intel that will help you make the right decision?
Could this issue or decision solve itself? ( P.S.-This is highly unlikely, but sometimes is true)
So next time you feel that trap of perfection sneaking up on you and you feel yourself sliding into procrastination land–know what it’s costing you. Use these questions above to help you overcome the overwhelm and the urge to stay where you are, stay small, make minimal waves.
Moving forward is where you and your business need to go. And you are the best (imperfect) person for the job.
