Seeking perfection can spark a chain reaction, creating:

👎 Stress
👎 Anxiety
👎 Confusion
👎 Frustration
👎 Overwhelm
👎 Burnout
👎 Death of progress

Perfection is an aspiration. It is an expectation you place upon yourself; your customers have no such expectations.

Perfectionism is often a symptom of an underlying issue, such as a lack of self-confidence and belief that your work is good enough - that's okay, we all experience this.

Seeking perfection for a customer vs your own work

You are far more likely to waste time seeking perfection when working on your own projects, such as developing your brand.

Freelancers, for example, have a specific brief and the pressure of a deadline. They can see payday ahead, and whilst they want to do a great job, they're keen to complete and move on to the next gig.

When you work for a client, you are forced to be objective, and perfectionism finds it difficult to survive in the company of objectivity.

When it comes to your own work, subjectivity can creep in. Procrastination often follows. You've got time on your hands and nobody to hold you accountable.

Seeking perfection sucks time. The more time you spend on a task does not mean the output will improve. You may succumb to the Law of Diminishing Returns:

🙇‍♂️ The uncomfortable decision every creator must make

Despite your best intentions, you will never be able to make everyone happy. You will have to draw lines in the sand around the projects you pursue, the people you work with, and the topics you address. You will have to say no to good things to make room for

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Also, your idea of perfection may be somebody's idea of terrible.

The biggest complaint I hear students make about their perfectionism is in the context of pre-start. They want everything to be just right before they launch.

If you like to get everything just right...you can't.

Perfection is fleeting; the moment you think something is perfect, it isn't. Everything evolves - from how you feel about something to how others feel (consider trends, for example). Looking back on what you felt was perfect last year, may not feel perfect today.

You're playing a game you can't win.

How to kill perfectionism

Since perfectionism is more likely to stall you before you get your first customer, you need to focus on getting your first customer.

👍 Take action. Any sense of perfection is only realised once you have achieved something. Taking action is key.

👍 Set goals and create a plan.

👍 Take small steps and celebrate hitting your milestones.

👍 Find an accountability partner (to encourage objectivity and useful feedback you can act on. This will also help you find the confidence to believe that your work is good enough).

👍 Stop comparing your output to that of others.