Many solopreneurs struggle with perfectionism. It’s an aspect of our personalities that can make us effective because we pay attention to detail and get things done without making foolish mistakes. Unfortunately, there’s a point at which perfectionism becomes self-defeating. While perfectionism may be good in some cases, it can actually be bad in others.
Your performance will never be perfect, no matter how hard you try.
In school, you probably did really well. You studied whatever you needed to and aced your exams. As a young adult, you mastered whatever skills you needed to and got rapid promotions on your job. As a small business owner, however, things are different. In the small business world, the amount of information you need to know is limitless. And how can you guarantee you won’t ever make a mistake? Do you have to be perfect to be successful? Thankfully, no!
However, for those who have perfectionist tendencies, it can be hard to let go of the idea. The fact is, you don’t need to know everything about everything. Not when the Internet is at your fingertips. And you don’t need to be on top of every detail, either. Not every detail is important. Your work needs to be excellent, but it doesn’t need to be perfect. It can’t be. So keep things in perspective. Those around you are not going to recognize or appreciate perfection. They are going to recognize and appreciate excellence.
Performance that seems mediocre to you will probably exceed the expectations of others.
For those who set exceptionally high standards for themselves, a performance others consider excellent may actually feel mediocre. If you are a high-achieving perfectionist, this will be very unsettling. It might make you question your competence; however, you need to adjust your expectations to understand that in most cases, excellence is more than good enough. In some cases, merely “good enough” is good enough!
Being a perfectionist is likely to prevent you from being excellent.
It may seem unnatural to be satisfied with something less than perfection, but perfection isn’t necessarily a virtue. If you demand perfection from yourself, you’ll just waste time and effort on details no one but you notices, making yourself feel overwhelmed and burned out. Release yourself from this self-defeating goal. It’s likely your performance will actually improve!
Are you a perfectionist? What do you think? Share your thoughts in the comments!
