JUST ONE THING
Ditch Perfection: Embrace Progress
Episode 168
With Rick White, 180BIZ
One of my Rick rules is “Perfection is an illusion created by the devil to rob men and women of their dreams.” Why do I say that? When you have a concept of perfection in your mind, when you have perfection set as your expectation, as your benchmark, as your standard, you end up doing nothing. You understand unconsciously you cannot do anything perfect. It is impossible for an imperfect human being to create perfection. I wish we could wipe the word out. But then I was thinking about it while driving back from Massachusetts the other day. Perfection is a great word to use when a result exceeds your expectations. For example, if I have the perfect cup of tea, what does that mean? It could be at the right temperature. It could be the right amount of milk in it. It could taste like a little bit of heaven, but it's still not perfect. When we say the word perfect, it's when our situation, our current circumstance exceeds our expectations.
Perfection stops you from doing anything because you constantly feel like you're not good enough or don't know enough, so you're in that learning mode over and over and over. What I want you to do instead is recognize how dangerous perfection is. Not only do you not do anything, but you also walk away not feeling good enough. If perfection is your standard you always feel like a failure. That's why I talk about doing your best. That's it. That's all we need is your best.
I was reading an article about a software company, and they brought up a concept that I thought was really kind of cool. It’s called a Minimum Viable Product. Basically, instead of having something all flushed out and perfect, what the software industry does is come out with the lowest, minimum viable product they can, that they can either charge for or start with, and then they build on it. There’s a better way to do that instead of getting stuck, constantly asking yourself, “What could go wrong?” Then deal with that. And then ask, “What else could go wrong?” Before you roll anything out, think through putting something smaller out there to get proof of concept. Instead of giving it to everyone, you could have a small beta test group and let them use it.
Here at 180BIZ, we have recently used this concept, Minimum Viable Product, in our coaching business. We’ve made a shift in how we're doing things as we started with a concept and shared it. Then we used an Excel spreadsheet to track that concept. Now we're rolling out something very special in the next week that will blow the doors off. We started small and then built it up. It is so much better to do it this way here.
Michael Tyson said it best, “Everyone has a plan until you get punched in the mouth.” You go through a year and a half of planning and then you put something out there, but your public, your community, and your target audience want it to do something different and now you must start all over. That sucks. When you start with a minimum viable product, you can zig and zag and get your concept dialed in well. It dials in quicker, and it dials in more accurately. Instead of coming to the table with your product, you say, “Hey, community, here's what we think will work. What do you think?” And now you have a whole bunch of people giving you ideas that you may never have thought of. It's awesome.
Then I want you to step back and look at areas in your life, your business, where you expect perfection. I'm telling you it's killing you. Can we please drag that out back and shoot it? Stop thinking perfection. I want you to say, “Hey, what can I do that can get some version of this up and running, and then let's get proof of concept.” Build it with your community and create something amazing.
Somebody needs to hear this message. Please share it. Our Shop Owners’ Round Table is on the 2nd of each month at 7:00 PM Eastern. We also have a webinar coming up on the second Thursday of each month at 1:00 PM Eastern. It is going to be amazing.
God bless, stay safe, have fun, and go make some money.
