The concept of perfection is an enduring one. It is also one of the most damaging, both for your personal growth and the evolution of a business, because perfection is a myth. More and more, research is showing us that chasing perfection has a corrosive and lasting effect leaving us pursuing something we can never attain. Stuck in a loop hoping if we just try harder, we can grab it. But the thing we all need to do is give ourselves permission to get it wrong sometimes.
Chasing a unicorn.
Perfection doesn’t exist. But that doesn’t stop us, especially people prone to perfectionist tendencies, who then find themselves more unhappy, beating themselves up for perceived mistakes. And this flows into the business world, because in pursuit of perfection, our work suffers. It’s a familiar story, you work hard to get everything exactly right but often find that too much time ends up wasted instead of getting the job done. If perfection is impossible then surely that makes mistakes inevitable. Working in a way that doesn’t allow for mistakes makes them sting even more when they happen, effecting the confidence and openness of you and your team.
Perfectionism can also make us miss out on personal development. There is growth to be had in mistakes whether that is in our personal lives or finding new ways to be more efficient in sales processes and business expansion. Chasing perfection can also create an invisible barrier to innovation. Innovation by its very nature takes risks which creates the possibility of failure, something a perfectionist natural veers away from. Taking perfect as an end goal away allows breathing room to find new and exciting ways to work and grow your business in tangible ways, taking calculated risks.
Give yourself permission to get it wrong.
Everyone, from a sales executive to CEO can make mistakes, it is how we accept and move on from them that shapes us and our successes. Perfection can be quite an insidious partner, hard to spot even in ourselves, so how do you go about tackling it? There is a difference between perfection and being a high achiever, one is possible and the other is not. It may be time to redefine what success means to you and your business. Does it mean constantly striving to get something exactly right or does it mean aiming for something achievable and learning along the way?
If you make a mistake at work and are open about it allows yourself to be imperfect and creates more freedom to become better at what your do. And next time that same situation comes up you will be prepared to get a different outcome.
Be bold.
Letting go of perfectionism is actually a brave thing, you are out in the wilderness showing your most imperfect self. But being brave means you are willing to try something different. And trying the same thing over and over again but expecting a different result is the definition of insanity. The same goes for your work processes, if something isn’t working, try something different even if it isn’t as perfect, make a calculated risk.
Getting to know your perfectionist tendencies and how they appear is the first step to bringing down bad habits and learning how you work best and how that fits with your evolving business. How do you like to organise your day, what management style do you respond best to, how do you cope with change?
It’s in the detail.
Know where detail orientated focus is needed and where it is not. Getting something done well is sometimes more important than getting it perfect. Keep one eye on the bigger picture. Understand what your priorities are and where your time needs to be spent most. Don’t get too bogged down in organising and to-do lists and miss the opportunity to get the job done. It is hard to push forward when you know the result you are aiming for is impossible. Know what can be done, what is asked of you and work from there.
In the end, once you accept that perfectionism is impossible, you are freed up to focus on doing the job at hand and attaining the tangible success you want. Giving yourself permission to get it wrong will actually help you to achieve much more than the overarching goals you first assigned to yourself and your business.
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