How to beat your ‘perfection enemy’

It’s not quite good enough yet.

Yep.
That’s how I usually thought about my work.

It made me feel stressed.
And trying to do it all perfectly led to frustration about not being productive enough.

I love how Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, describes it:
“Aiming for perfection causes frustration at best and paralysis at worst.
Perfection is the enemy of moving forward.”

Sounds familiar?

Luckily, I was able to beat my ‘perfection enemy’.

And I love to share with you how I did that, because I see so many women struggling with perfection on their career path.

We will never reach perfection

The first thing that really helped me was the reality check that we will never reach perfection in our life, because products and services evolve every day.
And there will always be someone who has more experience than me.

80% is good enough

Of course, the fact that we will never reach perfection doesn’t mean we should produce work of a low standard.
But, often realising 80% is good enough to achieve the goal we have in mind.

So secondly, this became my new mantra: get it 80% ready and send or launch it.

And don’t get me wrong. This wasn’t easy at all.
Let me give you an example ;).

Scary!

Thinking of creating videos for my social media was definitely something where perfection was holding me back.

But, I did know that video becomes more and more important in business.
After being challenged by a colleague I went for it.

I allowed myself only 2 recordings.
That was a huge stretch!

Of course, the videos weren’t perfect at all, but the message was clear.
I had to choose one and I posted it.

Very scary!

But, it has brought me so much:

1. I’m developing myself in making video’s instead of being paralysed by my perfection. I’m moving forward with my business.
2. The engagement on my social media posts has increased. Apparently, people love videos.
3. Instead of spending hours on the ‘perfect recording’, I’ve saved time for other to-dos.

Curious? Check them out on my Facebook account ;).

Now it’s your turn.

What is a goal you want to achieve this week?
Promise me to get it 80% ready and send or launch it.

Deal?

Here’s to a productive week!
Eefke

PS:
Are you struggling with perfection? Just get in touch for a free ‘chemistry session’, so you can experience what coaching is and what it can bring you. Of course this 1 hour coaching session is both entirely confidential and without obligation.