Push Past Perfect
Hold perfect lightly.
If it was down to me, it would never get finished. If it was down to my wife, it would never get started.Chapter 16, The Big Bold Mindset
We set the standard. Then we waited for perfect.
Two years earlier we'd created a market-leading product. Premium prices, household-name clients. It attracted competitors, and our head start gave us a confidence we hadn't earned.
That confidence showed up as perfectionism. Loyal customers told us what they needed, and we agonised over every detail. Back and forth, back and forth.
Competitors shipped faster and iterated faster. Clients switched. We lost the lead, and it was all avoidable.
What's your natural setting?
On a scale of 1 to 100, where are you? 1: slapdash, just go. 100: obsess over every detail.
Where are the people you work and live with?
What has waiting for perfect cost you?
Perfectionists don't perform better.
Researchers combed through four decades of studies on perfectionism at work. Perfectionists were no better or worse at their jobs, but more likely to burn out.
What to do instead
Focus on process
Dr Thomas Curran suggests focusing on learning and growth, not only the end goal.
Iterate
"Iteration" tells us what we need to know: progress is a process, not a finished state.
Know when
Hold perfect tightly where it matters, and lightly everywhere else.
Friends of ours planned for years to sail the world. Their boat was in Southampton when we set sail. Seven years later it's still there. They're waiting for perfect.
Sara Blakely: imperfect action
Blakely took scissors to her own tights to make the first prototype, and took products to real customers before they were perfect.
Would a lawyer have written a better patent? Of course. But hers was good enough to get going.
Who defined the rules anyway?The Big Bold Mindset
Four questions to get moving
Perfectionism is usually driven by emotion rather than logic. These questions cut through to the logic.
Why am I not acting?
Is it a real reason or an imagined fear?
What's the worst that could happen?
Put a number on the downside. It's usually smaller than it feels.
And if it works?
What's the upside of shipping now?
Who's my opposite?
If you lean to perfect, find someone who leans to action, and the reverse. Disagree thoughtfully.
Ship something by Friday
Pick one thing you've been polishing. Ship a version by Friday, ask three people for feedback, and decide what to improve next.
Map the team's settings
You need both kinds of people. The tension between them is where the good decisions come from.
Want Caspar to take your team through this? casparcraven.com