Dramatic blog title but I wanted to share with you why you can’t run your business effectively when you are a perfectionist.
To explain more, let’s take a look at what happened to me recently when I was almost at the stage of launching my online membership club for beta testing.
Here are the things I was REALLY worried about:
There wasn’t enough content
The layout wasn’t quite right
My worksheets had different fonts and sizes
I’d recorded my YouTube videos in slightly different sizes
I’d worn the same top on some of my videos
And then my inner critic kicked in and I started thinking about other stuff, like:
My logo isn’t quite right
Do the colours work or should I change them?
Will people like me?
Does my Bristol twang come through?
I’m not sure I’m 100% happy with the design of the site
And so on and so forth!
Here’s what happens when you are a perfectionist in business:
Tasks take you MUCH longer to complete
You procrastinate more
You set tough and unrealistic goals
You don’t take risks because you are worried about the outcome
You work hard (but not necessarily smart)
You don’t want to outsource anything
You set strict deadlines and find it hard to be flexible
You want to know everything about everything because if you don’t you feel like your a failure in some way, or are ‘faking’ it (imposter syndrome)
And then you get stuck, because with all the above points combined, you just end up going round in circles! Plus you risk alienating people that you want to work with, such as freelancers or joint ventures.
Here’s the deal: Whatever you put out there will NEVER be perfect enough.
So how can you manage being a perfectionist and still be able to move forward and grow your business?
Here are 5 tips to help mange your perfectionism:
Prioritise: Step back from your work and note down the things you want to change. Then analyse each point and ask yourself how fundamental each change is? Be really honest with yourself. Choose just ONE thing from your list that bothers you most and leave the rest.
Plan your day: We all know how important goals are and they can actually help you to eliminate some of your perfectionism. When you have daily tasks that you must do, it helps keep you on track and saves you spending too long on one task getting it perfect. Just complete it and move on to your next task.
Acceptance: As perfectionists, we have expectations of where our day will take us but life’s not like that – anything can happen in 24 hours. Accept daily interruptions such as phone calls, impromptu visits, technical hitches etc. as a part of life. Your plans for the day aren’t messed up, they are made more interesting by challenges. You’re learning every day.
Stop obsessing: Calm yourself down! What would your best friend say to you to stop you obsessing? Your partner? Your accountability buddy? Imagine what they’d say or give them a call and tell them what you’re worrying about.
Discover EFT: Emotional Freedom Techniques such as Tapping can really help you to keep a check on your perfectionism. Write some daily affirmations and say them out load when you’re having wobbles.
The best advice I can give though is to just get it out there. If I had waited until everything was just perfect, we’d probably be 3-6 months down the line and I would still be waiting to launch my club. I’m SO glad I did it early and the amazing feedback I’ve had already has proved to me I did the right thing. You can do it too.
