“It can’t go out until it’s perfect so we need to adjust the timeline.”
“I’m so close to this being perfect.”
“It has to be perfect – I won’t settle for anything less!”
“I need to be inspired to get it exactly right.”
I often hear people wax poetic about how they strive for perfection as if it’s a badge of honor. These are the people who overly ponder every detail – no matter how small – to the point where they end up doing nothing.
Perfection is a seemingly intellectual excuse for not getting something done that is actually meaningless. The real truth is that perfection is nothing more than a disguise to avoid the criticism that comes with production. The people who accept perfection as a reason for the non-production of others are the ones who are also comfortable hiding behind that same disguise. The ones who see right through that “excuse” are the ones who tend to win because they understand that nothing is ever truly perfect.
That’s right, perfection doesn’t exist and trying to correct every single flaw paralyzes progress. In fact, the slight blemish on a project makes it human and, therefore, accessible.
Hiding behind perfection isn’t nearly as important to your audience than producing. Here is a simple process to follow to step away from the perfection disguise:
• Commit to a timeline.
• Do your best.
• Proof your work.
• Put it out.
Learn from the inevitable mistakes.
Make it better next time.
Paying attention to detail and waiting for perfection are not the same. While it’s important to always pay attention to the details, doing so to the point of non-delivery results in nothing. The winners will always be the ones who produce, not the ones who chase the illusion of perfection.
Bill is president of PromoCorner, the leading digital marketing service provider to the promotional products industry, and has over 17 years working in executive leadership positions at leading promotional products distributorships. In 2014, he launched brandivate – the first executive outsourcing company solely focused on helping small and medium sized-promotional products enterprises responsibly grow their business. A featured speaker at numerous industry events, a serial creator of content marketing, president of the Promotional Products Association of the Mid-South (PPAMS), and PromoKitchen chef, Bill has extensive experience coaching sales teams, creating successful marketing campaigns, developing operational policies and procedures, creating and developing winning RFP responses, and presenting winning promotional products solutions to Fortune 500 clients. He can be reached at bill@PromoCorner.com.