Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.

I’ve been working with a client recently who needed a little nudge.  Actually a pretty big nudge.  We had been waiting weeks to finalise their messaging and to get their new project live. Had I not nudged them… you guessed it, we’d still be “talking” about it.  Sometimes you have to just MOVE on it. Let me throw you some examples of stalling. I’m still spellchecking the customer email, I’ll send it next week.  Ah spelling mistake, so you’re human. Scary. The logo seems a little pixelated, we’ll wait until the new one comes back from the designer.  Revise the logo next Wednesday when it comes back, get it live NOW. We’ll do the training next month when Sally and Jack can make it.  Jane will be sick that day and Tom will have to see a client. Let’s see how Q3 sales are looking before we commit.  It’s too late, you’ve LOST another two months.   What’s better over the year?  Action 50 ideas with 25 great ones and 25 not so good.  OR launch 5 perfect ideas? You never know, 5 of the 25 may turn into perfect ideas in time. The first iPhone came out 10 years ago boasting a 2MP camera (now 12MP), 128RAM (now 2GB) with 5 hours of talk-time (now 14…no I don’t believe this either).  If they had waited to perfect things they’d be 50 billion dollars out of pocket. Even if you do wait and seek that perfect launch, there is still the possibility that things out of your control could impact the project. The Handbook of Epictetus begins with these words:  Some things are up to us and some things are not up to us.  SIMPLE. To summarise.  The quest for perfection leads to dithering.  Excellence is attainable, perfection isn’t. Let’s take ACTION on the things that are in our control.  Let’s take action TODAY. Be GREAT!  Ditch Perfection.

Award winning Entrepreneur, Speaker and Business Coach Ian Farrar, is host of the chart topping Industry Angel Business Podcast.

Ian is also the founder of Sales & Marketing consultancy Far North Ltd.