Perfectionism is one of the biggest blockers to entrepreneurs, and it’s usually based in fear.
The problem is something we all deal with, especially if you’re trying to put your work out there. We hide in perfectionism, unable to confront the fear of judgement or failure. And if we stay blocked, we deny ourselves learnings and growth.
The solution is understanding there are no fails, only learnings. Read on for my tips on how to tame perfectionism and overthinking to help advance.
Perfect is the enemy of good
There’s a classic line: “perfect is the enemy of good”. It’s often tweaked in business to “… the enemy of done, or shipped”. I remember when I first heard this, back in my startup employee days, it was a lightbulb moment. It so perfectly captures the sentiment needed here. We must actively avoid perfection if we want to get anything done. Perfect is an ideal concept, not a realistic place. Yes we want to strive for our work to be high quality, but not at the expense of getting it out the door.
MVP thinking: don’t waste resources on something nobody wants
Another helpful startup idea is that of the MVP: Minimum Viable Product. The phrase is borrowed from minimum effective dose in medicine. In other words, what’s the minimum needed to get the job done. In terms or products, services, or whatever you’re working on, try to identify the minimum business offering required to solve the problem for your target audience. Especially in the early stages, skip the flash. Make it decent and good enough to get the job done. Then get it out there to the people so you can start collecting feedback as soon as possible. Then you can add features based on feedback, so you know it’s validated. Don’t waste resources on something nobody wants.
Feedback is the goal: there are no fails, only learnings
Feedback is the goal. Remember there are no fails, only learnings. Having seen this revelation play out for my clients and having lived it through my own experience, believe me when I say you eventually become eager to publish just to see how it goes. Yes you’ll get some negative feedback but you’ll also get the good. I now look forward to that spectrum of data that’s telling me what my audience is thinking and feeling (based on how they’re reacting).
The quicker you learn, the faster you grow
Once you develop the practice of shipping your work with less hesitancy, you get used to the quick feedback loop. You’ll become less worried about what might go wrong if you put your work out there, more excited for what you’ll learn in the process. The more you ship, the more you learn. The quicker you learn, the faster you grow. Continuous learning is the key to growth.
Hopefully one of these tools was what you needed to hear to begin the unblocking process. To question perfectionism, to see it’s hindering effect. And to reframe the underlying fear of judgement and failure into excitement for the possibility of learning.