Is Perfectionism Killing Your Productivity? 4 Tips to Help Beat This
Any perfectionists out there?
I’ve been a struggling perfectionist for most of my life.
Do any of these sound familiar?
- You spend hours trying to perfect things
- You are extremely hard on yourself
- You’re passionate about giving your all which is a good thing, but you often feel drained because you spend way too much time on certain tasks
- You cause yourself a ton of stress and get drained easily
- You can quickly become burnt out and lose your creative powers
- You spend way too much time on the details and end up losing sight of the big picture
I had to learn this the hard way, too. I’m still a ‘perfectionist’ at heart but have definitely learned ways to cope with this! When you continuously wait on things because they’re not perfect, you can end up missing out on a lot of great opportunities. Yes, it’s good to put the effort in and make sure things look great but there comes a point where spending too much time on tasks can really interfere with your weekly productivity.
Mark Cuban put it perfectly when he said,
“Perfection is the enemy of profitability. Perfection is the enemy of success. You don’t need to be perfect, because nobody is.”
If you’ve been struggling with this and this is holding you back from success or interfering with your productivity, I’ve got some ideas that might help you.
Tip #1: Set very specific and attainable goals and deadlines
When you’re working for yourself, it’s very easy to put off deadlines. I love working with my coaching clients because I hold them accountable to their goals and we make sure to get sh** done! You might have good intentions about getting a project done, but then when that time rolls around you push it off further because you can make it better. If you were working for a company and your boss told you to have project A completed by Monday, you would have project A completed by Monday. Why is this so difficult for us to do when we work for ourselves? I suggest finding an accountability partner or better yet a coach to work with where you do weekly check-ins and they help hold you accountable for the actions that you say that you’re doing.
Tip #2: Done is better than perfect
I have to be honest. This was a struggle for me years ago. But I’ve now fully embraced getting things done and know that I can always tweak them later or make them better. I have worked with so many entrepreneurs that constantly wait or procrastinate because things are not perfect. They wait to launch their website because it doesn’t look the way they want. They wait to go live because they need more practice. They wait to post on social media because they don’t like what they wrote. Remember, you can always change things through time, and everybody has a starting place! If you create a website, you can add more to it later. If you start doing lives, they’re just going to get better and better throughout time. As you begin to consistently post on social media, your writing and messaging will become stronger. You just have to start and take action.
Tip #3: Delegate when you can
Hiring a VA and a team of people was one of the best decisions that I’ve ever made! If you have the ability to do this, I highly recommend it. When you’re able to give up tasks to make more space and time for you to work ON your business, it’s incredible. When I first started doing this, I was so worried about how the team was doing the tasks because I was giving up control. It did take a little time for me to adjust but I learned that it’s impossible for me to do ‘all of the things’ in my business and if I want more freedom and space to grow, I just had to let that go. If you’re not in a position to hire team members right now, don’t stress! See if there’s a friend or family member that can help with small tasks and in time you’ll be able to delegate.
Tip #4: Keep in Mind the People That Need You
Your tribe is out there waiting for you to make a move, for you to show up for them! You don’t have to perfect, just show up as your authentic self. They don’t need you to spend 2 more weeks adding fancy details to your website. They don’t need you to add 5 more pages to a freebie offer. They don’t need you to look and speak perfectly on every live that you do. Your audience needs you to get out there now and be your imperfect self so that you can help them. Keep in mind this is not about you; it’s about serving your ideal client in the best way possible.
Try to start adopting some of these tips into your everyday life and see what transformations will occur. You’re not perfect and neither am I and that’s totally okay!
Sending you all light and love today! :)
