JUST ONE THING
Let Go of Perfect
Episode 158
With Rick White, 180BIZ
Are you looking for the perfect team doing flawless work for the perfect client? I want you to hear the alarm going off. It's time to wake up because perfect isn't real. It's the standard that we all want, right? We want it to be perfect. The reality is the perfect mentality. The perfect expectation is killing the momentum in your business because you're always recognizing that you're not perfect. You get stuck in learning mode. “I'm not good enough yet. I'm not good enough yet. I'm not good enough yet.”
When you get stuck in that mode, you get a false sense of progress. That’s when you feel like you're getting better, but nothing is changing because you're not executing what you've learned. It's keeping you from making decisions and taking action. This expectation of perfection stops you from moving forward.
You don't grow from learning; you grow from doing. You won't learn enough for you to be perfect.
and because we have that expectation and we recognize we can't hit it, we do nothing. 80% of getting something done that doesn't involve you is awesome. I got that from Dan Martell in his book Buy Back Your Time.
Perfection is the death of joy. A standard of perfection is the death of growth. The standard of perfection takes the joy out of life because we recognize it's not possible. Having a standard of perfection is the lowest standard that you can set for yourself, your business, and your team. Why? Because unconsciously we all know that it's not possible. And why do we set a standard like that? We set it up because we're afraid. We're afraid of being judged. We're afraid of ridicule. We're afraid of failing. We're afraid of falling. Some of us are even afraid of succeeding.
But I'm telling you if you could just let go of that need and drive for perfection and recognize that you’re a work in progress. Your business is a work in progress. It is in the process all the time. Remember, if it's not green and growing, it's ripe and rotting. So, I want you to stop chasing perfection. And I want you to start obsessing about doing your best and getting better every day. If you can do that every single day, you’ll be amazed.
There is so much pressure with a standard for perfection. It doesn't allow the curiosity. It doesn't allow for creativity. It doesn't allow for zigging and zagging. And that's what life is all about. Hey, I have some challenges here. Great. Let's tackle those challenges, but in the process of solving those challenges, we create new ones. And that’s great because those come with growth.
I want you to be a little patient and kind to yourself. Recognize that you're doing your best. There are so many people stuck in the mud and quicksand of perfection, and it's not real. It's not attainable. All you can do is your best and then make it better.
