How To Stop Being A Perfectionist Now

by

JOKE OF THE DAY:  

My wife accused me of being immature.

I told her to get out of my fort.  🙂 

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Are you a perfectionist? STOP IT!

Perfectionism is NOT a virtue… Truthfully –

“Perfectionism is just a fancy word for “Procrastination“.

So my question for you today my friend, is

have you ever let perfectionism stop you from doing what you know you need to do

…to move forward in life and business?

I was talking to a friend the other week and he was telling me about how he will make a video stop and look at it,

and then make another one stop and look at it,

…and then make another one and make another one and – on and on – so on and so forth because none of the videos he made were good enough in his eyes.

This is known as perfectionism and I have suffered with it myself in the past.

It’s possible that you, just like me, even use this as a way to pat yourself on the back by mistakenly turning the vice into a virtue.

Here’s a thought that slapped me upside the head when I first realized it.

Perfectionism is just a fancy word for procrastination.
It is not a virtue – it is a vice because it stops us from doing the things we know we need to do to move on in life.

Sure we like to tell ourselves that we haven’t made the videos we know we were supposed to make,

Or haven’t done the blog posts we know we were supposed to write,

or made the phone calls we know we were supposed to make…

Because, well we are just perfectionists right?

Feels good to say doesn’t it?

I’m just a perfectionist.

In my humble opinion we need to stop lying to ourselves and start calling a spade a spade.

What we’re really doing here is not taking action and then giving ourselves an excuse that sounds good as to why we didn’t take action.

The cool thing about being in business is that you don’t have to be perfect to have success and make a lot of money.

This morning in the gym I Went into the men’s restroom and I had to chuckle,

like I do every time, because there’s a sign hanging on the wall that makes me laugh.

The sign says please do not put ALLOT of toilet paper in the toilet because it will plug it.

I laughed because I know the owner of my gym is a very successful guy who owns several businesses.

And yet here is a sign that has a glaring spelling mistake staring everyone of his male customers in the face when they use the restroom.

It’s a great example to me that you do not have to be perfect to be successful in business.

Sort of like my first year in network marketing.

I remember receiving the business kit from the company in the mail.

Here I was a new college graduate making $11.09 an hour at my job.

I remember going through the business kit and being so frustrated because I found all of these spelling and grammar mistakes.

I couldn’t believe that this “professional” company was sending out materials that had errors.

I had been taught in school that you had to have things perfect to get a good grade on the test or the paper.

What I didn’t realize was that the two owners of the company were out in the marketplace making a fortune,

…all the while I was complaining about spelling mistakes and letting that stop me from taking action.

Absurd isn’t it?

Now, Not being a perfectionist does not mean we aren’t committed to quality.

Rather it means that we improve ourselves and our businesses while we are taking action over time.

This morning in the gym I was listening to an audio from Anthony Robbins.

He was talking about this guy named Dr. Edwards Deming who taught the Ford Motor Company about quality.

Ford was in the red and losing money.

After applying what Dr. Deming taught them they went in the black to the tune of billions of dollars.

Simply by focusing on quality.

Here’s what I bet they didn’t do though.

I bet they didn’t stop their factories from producing automobiles while they were learning about better quality.

I bet they didn’t put the brakes on all their marketing and say hold on we’ve got to stop until we have this right.

I’m willing to bet that they continued engaging in day-to-day business operations and WHILE they were doing that, they continually improved over time.

And maybe we might want to consider following that example.

So my friend today, cheers to taking action and not being perfect.

Cheers to moving forward with imperfect plans because we know as we take action we can craft more perfect ones.

What are you going to do today to get out of the mode of having to have things just right before taking action?

What are you going to do imperfectly so you can inspire the people around you to know that they too, do not have to be perfect to get things done in life and business?

Share with me down below I would love to hear.

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30 thoughts on “How To Stop Being A Perfectionist Now”

  4. I agree with you Paul we need to learn how to differentiate when perfectionism is bringing benefits or harm either way we must persist without exception. Great post thanks for sharing.

    Reply

  5. Perfectionism is not a virtue…it’s just a fancy word for procrastination. Love it Paul, great message, you gotta take massive action and keep getting better every day!

    Vitaliy

    Reply

    • Thanks Vitaly!

      And congratz on hitting over $10K per month in income.. WOOOO HOOOOO!

      Paul

      PS – not a guarantee of income.. see disclaimer at the bottom of my blog.

      Reply

  6. I’ll never though about procrastination this way. I got A’s in math and science but C’s in other subjects. There was an illusion of perfection in the subjects I got A’s in. But, it was that I got started and spent time improving.

    Reply

    • Thanks for sharing Ken.

      Yeah, – what I mean is that there is nothing wrong with getting A’s.. it’s AWESOME…. As long as the goal of getting an A doesn’t stop you from doing what you need to do to make it happen because you feel like you have to do everything perfect.

      Thanks for sharing your experience!

      Paul

      Reply

  7. Thanks Paul such a great post, I also strive to be a perfectionist but think it is really important that when you do make a mistake you learn from it, can be so valuable!

    Reply

  8. Powerful stuff, Paul! I used to suffer from this very thing! I still sometimes do, especially when it comes to writing… punctuation, grammar, spelling… AHHHH! lol Thanks for this valuable reminder that imperfect action is still better than perfect inaction. Appreciate you, brother!

    Reply

    • Mack Daddy! Dr. Steve commented on my blog! ha ha.. Thanks man…

      Appreciate the feedback and man – I still suffer from it from time to time too….

      These reminders are as much for myself as they are for anyone else.

      Thanks again!

      Paul

      Reply

  9. wow great post Paul, thanks for this….I am a perfectionist to a point…I did the 30 day video challenge and now doing the 21 days blogging challenge with a video attached as video was something I was not keen on doing….but I never redid or redid my videos I did one shoot and bam posted it but I am still a perfectionist in some way as I feel I need to have everything just right perfectly allinged with my blog etc…so this post was excacty what I need thanks especiall the quote which slapped me in the eyes…PERFETIONISM IS A WORD FOR PROCRASTINATION…ouch!!! thanks for sharing

    Reply

    • Hey Luann!

      Way to GOOOO on the 30 day video challenge.. So awesome… I bet you had some super cool breakthroughs!

      Thanks for stopping by and sharing your experience and insights.

      Glad you like the quote.. .:-)

      Paul

      Reply

  10. Awesome Article Paul, I learned to stop being a perfectionist the hard way! I thought everything had to be just right to get started, boy did I find out how wrong I was. That was when I decided I need to hire the right coach to get me where I wanted to be. He has helped me so much already I can’t wait to see what else I can learn from Mike:-)

    Reply

  11. I love that quote perfectionism is a word for procrastination. People should learn to love their mistakes. They teach us so much!

    Reply

  12. Great post Paul! There is no such thing as perfect, and the sooner we realize it the easier it will be. It certainly is a form of procrastination and even though we can strive for excellence, sometimes it is best to focus on what truly we get you the most optimal results

    Reply

  13. This message says it all. Often I read, especially on sales pages, that “If you’re sitting spinning your wheels, it’s not your fault!” Maybe a lot of the staying stuck is simply inactivity based on fear that whatever we are preparing to do is not good enough. I’m guilty!!!

    I tend to be a shiny object junky, too, so love reading about the newest and the best (supposedly). We need to keep current but not immersed to the point where we forget there was a goal in there somewhere that will take us where we need to be as an entrepreneur. Getting side-tracked for whatever reason is giving someone or something control over our destiny. Close your inbox, grab control back and FOCUS! Planned Strategy Brings Success!

    Reply

    • ooooh… such a great insight Noreen.. Maybe, spinning our wheels IS our fault.. Ouch. ;-(

      (I’m guilty too)

      YES – Focus – Law of success #11 – concentration – it’s the antidote..

      Thanks again for stopping by and sharing your thoughts.

      I really enjoyed your comment. 🙂

      Paul

      Reply

  14. I strive for perfectionism every time I pay piano. It drives me to pay above my level and I feel a sense of accomplishment when I feel it is played perfectly to me. Perception is everything in your actions, so keep striving to success dreams as you find it accomplished for you.

    Reply

    • Awesome Alecia… yeah i think it’s all about whether or not your perfectionism keeps you stuck or inspires you forward.. in your case, it sounds like it inspires you so rock on!

      Thanks for sharing.

      Paul

      Reply

    • I feel what you are saying in fact I dig it Alicia…BUT Here is the point. YO PLAY, You GO OUT and PLAY FOR JOE PUBLIC..Right? So you arent a perfectionist, you just like to practice till its perfect to your standards.

      And thats why you arent the person Paul is talking about in this article coz you DO TAKE ACTION.
      Perfectionism is the Mother of all Dream Killers…oh yes there are geniuses out there still fixing their invention to “Perfection” No body knows about them!

      I really understood just how much of a vice Perfectionism is at the TEAL3 event.
      See I used to think its a virtue…not any more.

      Thanks Paul for reinforcing this for me too.

      Julie

      Reply

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