It’s not done yet.
I’m not ready.
It just needs to be tweaked a couple more times.
I need more time.
Tomorrow is a better day to do that.
Ever find yourself saying any of those things over and over again? I know I hear my clients saying these things sometimes and I’m guilty of it too.
Voltaire wrote “Perfect is the enemy of the good.” Don’t wait for the project, speech, presentation, web page, timing or whatever to be perfect. Few things we create go out into the world completely and utterly perfect.
A question I like to ask myself (and clients) when I find myself looking for perfection before I try something or put something new “out there” is “what are you afraid of?” What is it that you’re afraid might happen if you don’t have it perfect? Are you afraid someone won’t like you? Are you afraid of being ridiculed? Ignored? Overlooked? Seen? Known? Maybe it will force you to a higher standard and by keeping it to yourself and perfecting it you don’t have to worry about that.
I heard someone talking about speaking say that the person out there giving an imperfect presentation is always making more money than the person sitting at home continually trying to make their presentation perfect. It’s true right? Anytime you’re putting yourself out there you’re introducing new people to your business and your services. Why wait for it to be perfect? There are people out there who are waiting for your services and honestly, they probably don’t realize that it’s not perfect yet!
Are you waiting for the perfect time in your business to take a vacation? Don’t wait! Plan it, make it happen and set an intention to enjoy your time away!
Are you waiting for the perfect bit of inspiration to hit before you work on that project? Don’t wait! Start working on it! (If I waited for the perfect bit of inspiration before I wrote my weekly articles there would only be about one a month!) Sometimes you need to create the space (physically and mentally) and trust you’ll make exactly what needs to be made in that space.
Are you waiting for things to slow down or speed up or do something else before you sit down and spend some time with yourself to plan your week or your day or commit to making that big goal actually happen?
STOP WAITING. The time is rarely perfect. And when it is, you don’t realize it until afterwards.
I recently re-watched the movie version of The Music Man and this quote popped out at me:
You pile up enough tomorrows, and you’ll find you are left with nothing but a lot of empty yesterdays. I don’t know about you, but I’d like to make today worth remembering.
– Meredith Willson, The Music Man (said by Harold Hill)
What will you create today that’s worth remembering?