Perfect: being entirely without fault or defect
It's worth reiterating this is often subconscious, especially in professionals and business owners. On the surface, you feel confident in your ability and your vision, hence why you have been able to get to where you are. But it's that deeper subconscious voice that is taking the joy from the success you have already achieved and holding you back from achieving more.
Previous events in your life are what leads to this, often in our youth. Perhaps you had a parent or teacher that was very critical of you, or you've had a relationship or job where you were made to feel not good enough. The subconscious can hold on to this and control you without you even knowing.
Some of the common ways this will present itself in business owners are:
Not enjoying your business even though you're doing incredibly well
Never giving yourself praise - always moving onto the next problem
Regularly comparing your business to others and telling yourself they are better
Constantly worrying about losing staff and or clients
Not investing time or money into marketing (through fear of failure)
Working way too much
Not taking holidays or time off
Constantly trying to people-please
Avoiding or overthinking decisions
Trying to do everything to a standard so high every task feels huge
Trying to do everything yourself and not feeling others truly want to help
Reading this list, it becomes blatantly obvious that running a business or team will never be sustainable or enjoyable with this approach.
But as we've explored, it's not a conscious choice which means it usually happens without us even realising.
We built the Better Happy Method to help business owners, their teams, and businesses grow whilst enjoying the journey. So many of the business owners we talk to and work with aren't enjoying it. At least 50% of the time (probably more), the owner being a perfectionist is one of the significant barriers to more growth and enjoyment for everyone.
Therefore a lot of the coaching and processes we provide are focused on helping the owner and the team move away from this mindset. It's not an easy quick fix, but it is possible, and once you start to feel the benefits, you'll never look back to the old way.
Your perfectionism will probably always be there, but instead of being the invisible force sat in the driving seat of your life, it will become the ugly gremlin sat in the passenger seat that you recognise exactly for what it is.
These quotes should provide you with some quick win inspiration, but if you want to dig deeper into the problem and start recognising that gremlin, click here and complete the Better Happy Owners Scorecard. If your owner care (soar) score and strategy scores are low.... It's highly likely perfectionism is in the driving seat - so let's have a chat.
"A done something is better than a perfect nothing."
"Perfectionism is self-abuse of the highest order."
- Anne Wilson Schaef
"The essence of being human is that one does not seek perfection."
- George Orwell
"Perfectionism is a dream killer, because it's just fear disguised as trying to do your best. It just is."
- Mastin Kipp
About Mike: Mike believes that a structured pathway to health and happiness is the solution to individual, business and global challenges. Mike was never made to feel good in the schooling system, experienced poor management in military and burn out in his first business. Seeing these problems were widespread Mike Co-Founded Better Happy to help other business owners and employees achieve their visions faster with health and happines.