The Impossible Goal of Perfection
Every week I have calls with people who are caught up with the impossible goal of perfection. Many have waited for years to start their online businesses because they wanted everything to be done right, with no mistakes or flaws before they shared it with the world. “Right” is code for “perfect” and it doesn’t exist in our world.
As a classroom teacher I had children of all ages who were frozen in the quest for perfection. When their work could not live up to this impossible standard they’d break into tears or act out or shut down. I had to calmly and gently explain to them why perfection was not our goal, but excellence was a worthy one.
I called it the beauty of imperfection. Years later John Legend would call it “perfect imperfections” in his popular song “All of Me.”
One of my little dogs, Kali has one eye slightly larger than the other. She must have been born that way but no one noticed until she was a couple of years old. When anyone points this out to me I say she’s this way so I can tell her apart from all the other dogs in the world. She is perfectly imperfect to me.
I’m so glad Bill Gates didn’t wait until DOS was perfect to create and sell the first personal computers. If he has been holding his breath he would have turned blue long before he began selling it the way it was. It was good enough during the 1980s and led to the first version of Windows, which also did not approach any level of the impossible goal of perfection. Bill shipped anyway and made it better over time.
For thirteen years now I have thought of excellence as my goal. I want everything I do to be slightly more excellent that that which has come before. My mentees are productive because they have accepted this idea.
Nothing in nature in perfect. Flowers and oceans and mountains are so imperfect that we celebrate them for being unique. And after attending a rose show where people had worked for years to grow the perfect rose I never went back. My yard is filled with imperfect roses that make me smile and bring me great joy.
Whatever you are working on for your business, ship it now and make it a little more excellent next week. I promise you it will all work out.
Serving others is the right place to begin, in my opinion. Recently I shared this with the people in my high level training courses and in my Mentor program…
“What can you recommend this weekend that will help someone get started in the direction that makes their heart sing?”
That was how I started this marketing online adventure thirteen years ago, by serving my prospects in any way possible. First, it was with affiliate offerings and within a year it was with my own products and courses. A year later I became a speaker and started my Mentor program. Two years after that I became a bestselling author and the following year co-hosted my first live event.
None of it was even close to perfection, but everything became a little bit more excellent each time I did it. I had learned from thought leader Brian Tracy to set a goal of improving 1% every day and this made sense to me. Goal setting and achieving took on greater value from that day forward. The goal of 1% improvement each day continues to make sense to me.
Every day I took action, even if it was simply in a small way because I’d also learned that consistency and perseverance would be the key to my success. A new blog post, an outline for a new product, a call with a new mentee or client each allowed me to move forward at the speed and intensity that was right for me on that day. You small daily habits bring huge success over even a short period of time.
As a new entrepreneur and author I observed that many people were much smarter than I was, more experienced, had more connections and relationships, and had come from a background that was more conducive to success in business than mine had been. But this did not deter me from working diligently to put everything into place, slowly at first and then with greater momentum.
I have long since replaced my negative self talk with positive affirmations. This begins in the early morning hours and carries on throughout the day. I praise myself for each task accomplished and goal completed, starting with that of getting up in the morning with a positive attitude as to what I am expecting to unfold for me during that day. I speak out loud to myself in front of the mirror, smiling and happy to be alive.
I knew that no one would be willing to put in the time, make the effort, do it over and over again until it was an excellent as it could be than I would. That’s been my super power all of these years and the secret to my great success. By believing that excellence was possible in every goal I have set there was only one possible outcome: excellent success as an author, publisher, and entrepreneur.
Please don’t allow the impossible goal of perfection stop you in your tracks. Do something small; a simple project. Ask for help and feedback. Do it again. Once you have actually done something your questions will be different, I promise. Then take a break for twenty-four hours to get further away from your project. When you come back to it you will view it with different eyes, different thoughts, a new perspective.
Ask yourself “What makes my heart sing?”
How can you share your answer with others? How may I serve you in the process? You can accomplish whatever goals you choose, and your results will be excellent. Hopefully, they will also be far away from the impossible goal of perfection. I believe in you. I will leave you with the motto that has taken on great meaning in my life, and in the lives of people I mentor…
“Do for a year what other’s wont; live forever the way other’s can’t.”
I’m author, publisher, and entrepreneur Connie Ragen Green and would love to connect with you. If you are new to the world of online entrepreneurship please check out my comprehensive training on how to set up Funnels That Click and learn how to gain an unfair advantage when it comes to building a lucrative online business.
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