Perfection, the enemy of entrepreneurship
May 11, 2020
There’s a saying that goes: “the perfect is the enemy of the good”. When we start a new project we want everything to turn out perfect. This is based on the need to perpetuate an image that projects excellence, superiority and perfection and within all this, perfectionism is evident, however, this is one of the main causes that make us feel so stressed, anxious or dissatisfied sometimes. Many times, the search for perfection paralyzes our progress.
It’s very difficult for a new development, be it a product or service, to be perfect. It’s practically impossible for something to turn out perfect the very first time, no matter how much we planned for it.
If we look for perfection above all, some new thing will always come up that will delay us because everything is able to be perfected, everything will turn into an excuse for not launching our projects. It’s also not about jumping into an adventure without considering all the important factors you must think about for your endeavor, but truly plan and execute, not just plan, plan, and plan.
A while back I took an online course that showed all the reasons why it’s more important to move forward than to search for perfection, Marie Forleo uses a phrase in all her courses which I love, and we use it as well because we firmly believe in it:
Progress not Perfection
Why do we value perfection so much?
In general, human beings don’t have a good relationship with failure, we perceive it as something totally negative that must be avoided at all cost. But if we study the history of some entrepreneurs a bit, we clearly learn that what distinguishes them is that they don’t abandon that ability of not letting failure defeat them; because from every failure they try to learn a lesson, adjust their path, and keep moving forward.
I firmly believe that failures are invaluable to reach success at the end. The best way to learn is to try, fail, learn, correct, and try again.
Check out what Thomas Alva Edison used to say:
- I have not failed. I’ve found 10,000 ways that don’t work.
- To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of garbage.
- Many of the failures in life are from people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.
- When I’ve totally decided that it’s worth getting a result, I move forward and try and try until I get it.
- Negative results are just what I want. They are as valuable to me as positive results. I can’t find what works better until I find out what doesn’t work.
As you can see, perfection should never be our goal, since it’s a given that we will fail. We must set challenging goals, and concentrate on the process to obtain the best outcome possible.
We know that it’s always possible to improve any project or dream and to truly get the best outcome, the best thing to do is to move forward. When you get stuck, move on to the next step, and later on go back to where you became stuck with a fresh mind, new ideas will keep emerging throughout the entire process.
Tips to help you advance:
1.- Your goals and objectives must be clear: In order for this to work, you have to set goals that have value to you and that are something you truly want, you must have chosen them and they can’t feel like someone has imposed them on you or that they are someone else’s goals.
2.- Put them on paper: Whether with words or images, you must keep them close to you so that you always remember them and stay motivated. Remember to write down the why of each goal, what makes it special, and why you should invest your time reaching it.
3.- Create mini goals for each one of them: Define small steps that you can be taking in order to achieve that goal that may seem unattainable at the beginning.
4.- Concentrate on small changes: Focus on one activity at a time, a small change when done frequently, will get you closer to your goal. Every time you surpass that step, take the next one and so on until you reach your goal.
5.- Never stop growing: If you already achieved one goal, take advantage of all that energy and motivation to set a new, even more challenging one, and begin your process to reach it.
Create small goals, that have a shorter timeframe and weight (they can be monthly, by-weekly, or however long you like), the important thing is that you opt for tracking your progress and stay motivated to achieve your final objective.
Once you reach it, set a second goal with a different weight or purpose.
Each time that you move forward towards your goal, remember: Progress not Perfection
© 2020, All Rights Reserved, Aldin Consulting Group, LLC.
Alicia Díaz-Blevins
[email protected]
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