One of the most important lessons I’ve learned as a first-time business owner is that done is better than perfect.
Granted, most of my bosses from my 10 years in the corporate world did try to teach me the same thing. But there’s nothing like the reality of running your own business to give you a different perspective!
As a recovering perfectionist, launching something into the world that wasn’t “perfect” was almost impossible for me to do. I would get crippling anxiety and overthink things until I couldn’t sleep.
While I worked for someone else and had the security of a salary coming in, I was less concerned with how long it took me to do tasks. Then I went out on my own 2.5 years ago and became self-employed, running my own business for the first time in my life. Boy, did time mean something different!
And when I say business owner, I’m referring to my overall business as a Cookie Artist and Content Creator. I have this blog, online classes, and can be found on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat.
Done is Better than Perfect: What is perfection?
I think it’s important to start this conversation with a definition and exploration of perfection. Perfect means:
- being entirely without fault or defect (flawless)
- satisfying all requirements (accurate)
- corresponding to an ideal standard or abstract concept
I’d like to draw special attention to the last one: corresponding to an ideal standard. Meaning, someone somewhere has set this “standard”. Chances are it’s not your definition of perfection you’re striving for, but actually someone else’s.
Now I could wax poetic on how our childhoods have made us into perfectionists, but I’m not a therapist and that’s just not how far I want to go here.
The point is: We’ve grown up in a society where we were taught that perfect is better than done. So, it will take some serious intention and self-compassion to dismantle what’s engrained and instead adopt this idea that done is better than perfect.
Done is Better than Perfect: Why is it helpful?
You might be asking yourself, “What exactly does it mean that done is better than perfect? Why is this approach helpful?” Well, this also reminds me of the concept that messy action is better than no action. (A valuable lesson I learned from one of the business coaches I’ve worked with.)
It’s this idea that getting something published/launched/out into the world at 80% is better than not getting it out at all. You see, when you’re hyper-fixated on perfection, it can lead to launch paralysis. Meaning, you spend so much time perfecting every element that the project never actually sees the light of day.
In my case, I would spend so much time in the ideation/brainstorming phase that I wouldn’t even take the first step on a project because I had already convinced myself I couldn’t do it or it wasn’t worth my time.
Because in my head, perfect was better than launching something at 80%. How could I possibly put my name on something that I didn’t give the 110% stamp of perfection on?
But I had to remind myself that my 80% is a LOT of other peoples’ 100% (not hating on anyone else, just drilling down that we are our own worst critics). And how was I going to build a business if I was stuck in the paralysis of never launching a new idea or taking twice as long as necessary to get it out the door?
So step by step, project by project, I started to embody this idea that done is better than perfect. I started asking myself, “Just how much could I accomplish if I decided that messy action was better than no action?”
One of my early moments building my brand where I was definitely focused more on perfection than just getting things done… :/
Done is Better than Perfect: How has this helped my business?
Can you believe my first in-person class in November 2019 was a case of done is better than perfect? Or that my first-ever online class in April 2022 was the result of messy action? Or that my transitions from Eventbrite to Flodesk to Shopify to sell my classes involved a whole lotta “done is better than perfect” meditations?
Now, I will be the first to admit that some of my launches of new initiatives, or classes, or platforms have not always been seamless. In fact, they’ve been pretty messy if I’m going to be totally honest.
For example, there have been times with class workbook overhauls/new launches when some of you beautiful souls have actually reached out to me to proofread my workbooks for me. There was a time I would have been mortified that I launched a new class with a workbook that had errors, but that’s also a big reason why I now have a library of 35 classes.
But don’t worry, I now have an assistant that does the proofreading for me! 😉
You see, I was a one-woman show for a very long time (4 years building my business while working full-time and then almost 2 years when my business became full-time). I hired my first contracted employee (video editor) one year ago and then my assistant just a couple months ago.
As a business owner, I always have so many good ideas swirling, and I want to be able to do everything. Now there is something to be said about being selective with where I choose to spend my time, but I also want to be able to maximize my output. I wouldn’t have been able to accomplish as much as I have so far if I had been paralyzed with fear that launching something less-than-perfect would taint my name or my brand.
But even with employees I’ve had to revisit the notion that done is better than perfect. In fact, one could argue that you must channel this even more with employees. Because the point of having employees is for them to take work off your plate, right? So, if you’re spending twice as much time reviewing, revising and giving edits to their work, then what was the point?
