I am one of those business people who always wanted to have his own business but didn’t get around to it for a long time. I am a perfectionist by nature. I like to shoot for the best possible opportunity before I make my move. I was convinced that when things were perfectly aligned; I would start my business and have the maximum impact. As you might imagine, things never aligned perfectly because they never do. 10 Years after first realising that I wanted to be self-employed, I still hadn’t started my business. Then, the economic downturn happened and I had just returned to Ireland to find work. I realised that I would be fighting with very high numbers for very limited jobs so; I decided that I would have as much opportunity if I tried to create my own work. That’s how someone who suffers from perfectionism ends up with his own business.
Below, I wish to give you examples to demonstrate how I have benefitted from putting my perfectionism to one side i.e. I have taken action, gained wisdom and gotten better.
Perfectionism is just one form of procrastination. You can get a copy of my report '9 Reasons why people procrastinate'.
The perfect website
As Ireland was struggling when I launched my business, I realised that I would be better off focusing on building a business which was predominantly online. That way, I could seek business from countries which were doing better than we were. I also like the idea that if I wanted to move abroad again, I could take the business with me as my location was not important. So, being a perfectionist, I was adamant that I needed a perfect website.
Of course. I was only after arriving home from the UK where I had just completed a Masters in Psychology. I had sold my house to pay for the course and the costs of living. The coffers were empty and I had no savings to fall back on. Perfectionism could kiss my butt. I couldn’t afford to pay someone to build the perfect website so I was going to have to do it myself. So, having never had anything to do with websites and; having no idea how to do it; I set about building my website – the website you are on right now.
You wouldn’t have to be a genius to see that this website is far from perfect. But it attracts millions of readers each year and I make a living from it. An income which increases every month.
Lesson: You can do a great job without even getting close to perfect. If you wait for perfection; you will become perfect at waiting. Done is better than perfect.
If you wait for perfection; you will become perfect at waiting.
The perfect book cover
One of the best things I ever did in my business was to create some passive products – products which could be sold without me having to be there to do the selling e.g. eBooks, e-courses etc. The first products I created were eBooks. I was very worried about creating them and I almost didn’t do it. Why? Because I am not very good at design work and; as this was in the early days of my business, I didn’t have the money to pay anyone to do the work for me e.g. design covers.
Thankfully, I set my perfectionism aside and I made some covers for the books and styled them as best I could. Could they have been better? Certainly, but until last week, I never had a complaint.
I regularly receive emails from my readers and last week was no exception to that. The only real difference was that one guy decided to be a little snotty. He told me that one of my eBook covers was childish and amateurish. There was a little more to his comment but I won’t mention that.
Truth be told, the cover in question is probably a little childish and it certainly is amateurish because it was created by an amateur – me. But there is something very important which the man who sent that email doesn’t know:
That eBook is my second bestselling product. It brings in thousands of dollars for me each year with almost zero cost of sales.
Lesson: Perfection isn’t necessary. Get the job done and you can improve on it later if necessary. But you can’t improve on something which hasn’t been done.
The perfect man
The man who doesn’t make mistakes doesn’t do anything. We will all get things wrong and make cock ups. The person who does well in life is not free from mistakes. They are the one who makes the mistakes, accepts it, corrects it if possible and then gets back in saddle and rides on. Perfectionism made a mess of much of my early life. I allowed it to stop me from doing things that I really wanted to do. When I made a mistake, I used to go into a rage with myself. I would be angry with myself for an age.
Friday, I had to write and schedule two emails. Friday's email was to inform my readers of a sale I was launching. The second email was to go out Tuesday to inform my readers that there was less than 24 hours to go in the sale. I made a mistake and sent the two emails together. It is an unnecessary intrusion for my readers and it makes me look amateurish but I have learned to accept that mistakes happen and I will just have to be more careful next time.
Focusing too much on my mistakes had allowed me to overestimate how much I got wrong and underestimate how much stuff I get right. Accepting my imperfection has allowed me to enjoy the many times when I get things right and, like most people. I get more things right than I get wrong.
Lesson: You must accept your weaknesses before you can truly appreciate your strengths.
The perfect article
There is an article on this site which is a list post promising readers 7 pieces of advice on a specific topic. The title contains the number 7 and there is a heading within the article which again, promises 7 pieces of advice. However, there only 6 pieces of advice.
I hadn’t noticed this until a reader emailed me to tell me; 2 years after the article was published. The reader did however say that they were not complaining and they found the article valuable. The same article (I chose not to correct the mistake) is regularly shared on social media by readers without any complaints.
Had I known at the time that I had made such a blatant mistake, my perfectionism would have kicked in and I would have been mortified. I would have been thinking about the low opinion that people must have of me. But despite such a blatant mistake and, the many more I have made over the years, my website and business continue to grow.
Lesson: Perfectionism requires us to think the worst of people. Most people are accepting of occasional mistakes, if they even notice them. They know they make mistakes too.
If you are struggling with procrastination, check out Stop Procrastinating.
Conclusion
I am not the perfect businessman; far from it. I make a lot of mistakes and there are many things I don’t know. I make a living from my business but you won’t be seeing me on a list of the World's Richest People any time soon. Some of you reading this will be far better at business than me. But that is not the point of this article. I have written this article to demonstrate the dangers of perfectionism. If we give in to perfectionism, we can do a lot of damage to our lives. We can hold ourselves back from creating the life we really want. Perfectionism costs us time, money, happiness and much more besides. Accept your imperfection and chase your goals.