OK, now that I have your attention, I just want to pass this question and thought on to you. How often have you put off starting some project, plan or even business, because you were waiting for something or everything to be PERFECT? Probably a lot. Me too.
Everyone at one time or another does this. EVERYONE.
Sometimes it’s because you are caught up in not making a mistake. Why? Probably because you thought that any mistakes would cause total and calamitous failure. But was that really the case? Not likely in reality was it?
Sometimes we are perfectionists to the extreme. A friend of mine has said that he is an ultra-perfectionist, and he takes great pride in this. To him it’s a badge of honor. And perhaps it helps him deliver an incredibly high quality of work.
But is it the best approach for everything in life?
I don’t think so. You should obviously shoot for perfect every time. High quality in all you do is a mark of a successful person. But what if you achieve 95% of what you set out to do instead of 100%? Is that always to be considered a failure or a waste of time?
Of course not! Sure, some things require perfection. I don’t want a doctor that is satisfied with getting only 95% of that malignant tumor out of my brain. I don’t want a house that has only 95% of the roof finished. I don’t want 95% of my grass cut each week.
But what kinds of things don’t require perfection?
You don’t need to have everything planned out to the last second and action when making your plans. You need to leave room and resources for unexpected problems. We can’t plan for everything, so we have to be prepared to handle the unexpected.
You don’t have to know exactly what the final picture looks like to begin painting it today. Sometimes knowing the general direction we want to go in is enough, otherwise we keep staring at a blank canvas without knowing where to start.
Finally, your results don’t need to match exactly what you planned on. If you have a goal of adding $1000 to your income each month next year, should you obsess over only adding $900 each month? If you plan on over-delivering your promises (which I encourage), but only meet the promises you made, why should that let you down?
Sometimes we have to realize that good enough is GOOD ENOUGH. Perfecting a sales letter, writing a the best report ever, creating that perfect product may produce a better, higher cost sale, but how much time do we lose that could have generated more sales in the long run instead?
Plan for the perfect. Do the best you can with what you have. Rejoice in your success and move on.
An imperfect plan started TODAY is far superior to a perfect plan started TOMORROW.
So get out there and get started!
