This is a saying one of my old Pastors always used but, it didn’t mean that much to me until I started working for myself.
Like many people, I can be a bit of a perfectionist but as well as it’s strengths, perfectionism has it’s many weaknesses, one of which is procrastination.
Perfectionism must not however be mistaken for excellence. Excellence in my view has its roots in wanting to serve better, be better so that others can benefit. Perfectionism however is often self-serving and can also be an excuse for why we don’t get certain things done or achieve our goals. ”Oh, my program isn’t good enough to be released yet” – despite the fact that you’ve been perfecting it for three months!
Perfectionism Focuses on Minutia
I read a book by a very well known Internet guru a few weeks back and it’s one of the best books I’ve ever read on marketing your message. There was a typo in a couple of places and I can bet the author has received numerous emails from people telling him about them. And I can also bet that those are the same people who won’t implement the ideas in his book. It often goes hand-in-hand that when people focus on minutia, they forget the bigger purpose of what they are trying to accomplish and hone in on those things that are “not quite right.” They then spend precious time putting the worlds to rights over a typo because “it just isn’t right.”
Imagine what could be achieved if more energy were spent on pursuing your goals and focusing on your priorities. You would literally achieve more in less time.
If perfectionism and procrastination has been stealing your time, it’s not that hard to kill them dead though.
By setting clear goals and pursuing those goals with the same passion you had for the minutia or putting things off, you’ll soon start noticing measurable results.
The added benefit of firing procrastination and it’s close cousin perfectionism is that you’ll also increase confidence and develop a better outlook on life, both of which will make you a happier person … and we all want to be happy don’t we?
Until next time,
About Trish Jones
