I’m a perfectionist. I ‘go loco’ when things are out of place, I cringe at sloppiness and spelling mistakes make me itch.
My new website (leave me comment luv if you like it!) has been a work in progress for months now, while I fixed and fiddled trying to create my own version of ‘perfection’. A few weeks ago I mentioned to a VA coach that I would be ‘putting my new website up in the new year’. She said something shocking to me: “Put it up now. Better done than perfect.”
Really? Yikes – not in my world, lady! In my world things are better hidden until absolutely perfect!
But it got me to thinking…why not put it up now? It was done, if not as pretty as I wanted it to be. The answer is stunningly simple: I am insecure. That’s it. Trying to make things perfect is just another way of hiding. I had been telling myself that I was still working on it…but truthfully I was too insecure to launch it. So guess what? I LAUNCHED EARLY. I launched it as it stands. And do you wanna hear crazy awesomeness? I’ve had nothing but rave reviews, I’ve sold new services I hadn’t planned to start until 2012 and I’ve gained new clients! Badda-Boom. None of that would have happened if I still had that website behind the scenes making minuscule changes to all of its imperfections.
So what are you hiding until it’s perfect? Are you waiting to ‘start your VA practice’ because it’s not the perfect time? Do you want to launch a new product or service but are too insecure that no one will buy it? Thinking about writing a book but worry that maybe you’re not smart enough? Put yourself out there Brainy Gals! Do it today and find the rewards sooner. Don’t wait until everything is perfect or you’ll be waiting forever. That product, that service, that book, that website…it’s better done than perfect. Right?
[...] The second and third I got from IVAA members. One, The Brainy Gal, wrote this great article on Perfectionist Paralysis . Take care and have a great day! __________________ Ramona [...]
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I am planning to launch my website in the new year, waiting to tweek those last few things, not quite ready yet! Hmmmm, sounds familiar? I will get that website up and going soon (no, really!). I feel I have sooo much to learn as a VA, but I guess that diving in will be the best way to learn.
Hi Karin – I could not agree more with the idea that ‘the best way to learn is to dive right in’…it’s true! You WILL have that website up in a couple of weeks, right??? Let me know…I’d love to see it!
Oh how well I know the feeling! I use to program for a living (actually I would love to get back into that, but probably won’t), and I could not work on final results until everything was perfect. Until everything was right (every indent had the proper info in the proper column, everything lined up just right, the print report looked just like it should–perfection), I just could not get to debugging my work.
The cool thing: once everything was good to go and looked the way I thought it should/wanted, my code ran perfectly giving the right information from the right data. It was wonderful.
And, I just learned to accept my failings. Now I look for the nearest edit button so I can fixed whatever I’ve screwed up and didn’t notice before I hit the enter button. Such misery I experience when there is no edit button!
I know perfection isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
I struggle with this one too Ann! Nice to know I’m not alone. Thanks for commenting!