Done is Better Than Perfect
I am not and have never been a perfectionist. Overachiever yes, perfectionist no. I see so many groups online for recovering perfectionists. Apparently, it is something to be avoided. Are you trying to be perfect? Does it get in your way?
Action Taker
I am an action taker. It’s nothing I work at, “Baby I Was Born This Way.” Seriously. I am also a vegetarian. I am a vegetarian because I never liked meat and once I was old enough to make my own choices, I stopped eating it. There is 0% sacrifice involved. I simply don’t eat meat because I simply don’t want it. Our children are also vegetarians because my meat-eating husband thinks it’s a better health choice. Over time I have also come to appreciate not eating animals because they are, well, animals.
80% All the Way
I don’t see my clients battling perfectionism but I do see them hiding behind making something “just a little better” before they get out there and start selling. I just need to finish my web site… I just need to get my logo done… I just need to refine my messaging… I just need to clarify my offering… There’s one thing behind all these excuses. FEAR. Fear of rejection. Fear that my business won’t work. Fear that I won’t get any projects. Done is better than perfect and you should always be shooting for 80%. 80% is good enough. I spend a lot of time booting them in the backside and pushing them out the door to go spread their message and sell their services.
A good example inside Billable with Baby® is my blog. I never wanted to be a writer and I don’t love to write. But building a business like this means generating miles and miles of great content. So, like it or not, I am now a writer. I have been writing a blog every week since February 27, 2017 and I plan to continue. You can see them all here. Some of them are great. Others not so much. They average 80%. But I have faithfully published one every week for all those weeks. And guess what? It’s gotten easier. I even enjoy it sometimes now. I try to batch a few at a time to make it more efficient. And when I got published on Arianna Huffington’s new platform, Thrive Global, I was so excited.
90% of Success is Showing Up
I believe that 90% of success is showing up. Sure, you have to be smart and have a good attitude but these will not help you if you don’t show up. I believe that if you show up all the time and add a heaping scoop of “fake it ‘til you make it”, you are pretty much guaranteed to succeed.
In addition to writing, building Billable with Baby® requires showing up in video. ARGH! Video??? Do you know how hard it is to get used to seeing yourself on video? SO. HARD. You need a special camera and a special microphone and special lights, right? WRONG. Sure, there are professionally shot and edited videos out there but after watching bunches of them, I realized I preferred the less perfect, more realistic videos. And there went the last of my excuses…
I did my first Facebook Live (that I didn’t delete) on September 6, 2017 and I have been showing up ever since. Sometimes on Facebook Live and sometimes recording then sending or posting my videos. I do have a decent camera and microphone. I still need better lights and a better backdrop. And don’t forget the make-up consultation. Or better yet, make that a plastic surgeon…
So, show up, take action and always remember DONE IS BETTER THAN PERFECT!
Please join our free group of imperfect, action taking mothers starting and running successful consulting businesses, Billable with Baby® Community. We empower working mothers to have meaningful careers with the flexibility to raise their children the way they wish.
Originally published at www.billablewithbaby.com