Perfectionism Is Highly Overrated

I was raised to be a perfectionist.

I was taught that I was wasting time, resources and the gifts God had given me if I wasn't performing at 100% (or better). That perfectionism carried over into my adult life - and darned near drove me crazy.

In my personal life - you could walk into my home at any point in time and take a picture for Architectural Digest or Home and Gardens - it was perfect, always. No one lived in my home - or at least you couldn't tell they did.

In my professional life, I pushed and pushed to make every project perfect. Whatever it took - 100 hours a week, all nighters before a launch, incessant attention to details that made teams shake their heads and wonder what drove me - I was all about perfect.

Then I realized that no one knew it was perfect - except me.

That's the day my life got much easier - as did the lives of those around me. All that extra pushing and craziness to reach perfection didn't really matter. Not to the rest of the world. No one noticed that last 20% of the work that drove me, and those around me by default - NUTS!

I'm not saying that I learned to be sloppy and not care about the details. I still worry over those little things - only now it's about the really important little things.

I learned that the old 80/20 rule is a friend for us all.

Maybe it's the 90/10 rule - depending on the situation. Whatever the percentage - my point is that there is a time when enough is enough and it's time to let go - versus spending precious energy and resources on chasing that last minute detail to reach perfection.

That last 10 - 20% can actually be more destructive than it is positive. Perfection takes too much time and effort - not to mention the drain it places on everyone involved, as everyone begins to wonder why their best isn't yet good enough.

Want a great example of the 80/20 rule in action? Look at the iPad. It's not perfect - the market has gone out of its way to point out that 20% that isn't there yet. Has that slowed iPad sales? Has it given Apple a black eye? Has it in anyway impacted the future of the iPad? Not really. In fact - it created a lot of chatter about the iPad -chatter and debate - the best marketing (free marketing I might add) that you can ask for.

Yes, it has given a lot of people a reason to stab at the iPad - but they would've done that even with the extra 20% in the product. That's just what they want to do -throw stones. In reality, the 20% hasn't impacted the iPad's popularity. By letting that 20% ride - Apple has room for product enhancements, they've powered into the market sooner than had they waited to 'finish' the product - and they've focused on the 80% of functionality that mattered.

The Bottom Line: The next time you catch yourself reaching for perfection - think about what that perfection is costing you - in resource, time, effort and market leadership. Then think about how you can leverage the 80/20 rule to better create success for your efforts.

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