Perfectionism: refusal to accept any standard short of perfection.
I am a self confessed perfectionist and more often than not it’s often to my own detriment. I sit on ideas and often I take longer to do stuff because I need it to be absolutely perfect.
You’ve probably heard the term “Launch before you’re ready”? Or “Done is better than perfect” right? Ways to live by from people who get stuff done.
If you’re a perfectionist, these phrases are possibly considered your worst nightmare, wrapped up into one little neat sentence. Tie a bow on it if you like, but it’s still scary as hell from where we sit.
I experienced the perfectionist’s worst nightmare on my first product launch. I had been sitting on launching for about 3 months because I didn’t have time to really refine it to my expectations. I was waiting for some big projects to wrap up and my accountability buddy gave me a kick up the butt and said just launch it!
I knew I wasn’t ready but I’d been reading loads of things about how you should just take the plunge and just do it. It’s what the successful people do right? So figured I would go against my own gut instinct and launch the thing. One less thing to think about.
So I did, I launched before I was ready. “Done is better than perfect”, I uttered as I hit the send button.
All was going well, I cracked my target of sales and was on a total high. I remember thinking to myself “This is pretty cool, I am earning money while I sleep!”. But then I awoke to possibly the worst email I had ever received in my entire life.
The tone was incredibly rude, just a nasty piece of work, hidden beneath there were some constructive points, but the one line that made my heart sink was this one little sentence…
“Don’t you take any pride in your business?”
A dagger of a sentence, delivered straight to the heart. Eight words that created a self perpetuating hatred towards myself. The one thing I cared about the most, she was questioning. It wasn’t her words that stung, or the fact that she hated my product, it was the fact that deep down I whole heartedly had to agree with her. I felt immense guilt that I went against all my own intuitive judgment and followed the advice of a few ‘buzz words’.
So having experienced the ultimate perfectionists launching nightmare, I come to learn a few good points that I wanted to share.
1. Delegate
Learning to let stuff go can apply to many things. It can mean delegate your proof reading, hiring a designer who can bring your vision to life, hiring a developer who can take away your pain or simply just letting go of an idea that isn’t great.
If something is holding you back then let it go.
2. Get honest feedback
It always helps to get a second opinion. Gather feedback from trusted individuals who can honestly tell you if it’s good or not.
Make sure they are on the same page and it speaks their language, otherwise you may as well give it to the cat.
3. The truth about “Done is better than perfect”
This term really relates to less features, not quality. This especially applies if people are paying for it. Quality over quantity always wins!
If you’re wanting to launch a paid product but are lacking time to get it to meet your expectations then take away features. Whether it be chapters to an ebook (as long as it still make sense), modules to an ecourse, great quality videos or anything that can be cut. Allow your self to inject your best into whatever you create.
Take stuff away before you compromise quality. You’ll feel better about it, I promise.
4. Trust your own judgement
The most successful business owners in the world trust their own instincts over anything else. So this is why it’s super important to trust your own judgement over any ‘buzz-word‘ or ‘catch phrase’ that the latest and greatest marketer is talking about at the time.
If you don’t feel good about it, don’t do it.
5. Launch when you’re ready
It’s not a race.