No Room for Perfect

I get to work with some wonderful people and brands. One barrier I see many of them face is perfection. Who doesn't want a program or promotion or product to be perfect? But perfect is just a word. It's a direction or aspiration, but not a destination. You can't get there from here. You can't achieve perfection no matter how hard you try.

There are downsides to perfection:
1) It sounds and feels good. Who can argue that you want something perfect? It sounds good and unarguable.
2) It is elusive. Different people view perfection differently, so you'll never get consensus that something is perfect. You still will have to search for it, which will lead to more compromise.
3) It slows or stops progress. Waiting for perfection will take so long that once you think you have achieved it, you have lost the opportunity.

Here's how to deal with perfection:

1) Realize it's unattainable.
2) Look instead to piloting ideas or testing new approaches. Piloting a new program will lead to new ideas and improvements.
3) Trade perfection for speed. By testing or piloting an idea, you can increase the speed of implementation and results dramatically.
4) Trade perfection for progress. If the goal is to make progress, to learn and improve the program while getting results quickly, that beats the pursuit of perfection.


Barry LaBov
LaBov & Beyond
www.labov.com
LaBov Sales Channel
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