Overcome perfection paralysis: Tips from creators of content
We've likely all met someone who couldn't complete a task because they felt every aspect needed to be perfect. But, perfection doesn't exist (truly). As a result, the project sits incomplete either on their laptop or their studio. Some might consider it a waste of time since there is no way to enjoy what the creator produced.
Perfectionism can be a major obstacle for entrepreneurs and creators. In a research study conducted by the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, perfectionism is linked to "feelings of failure, guilt or guilt, indecisiveness, procrastination guilt, shame and lower self-esteem." As a result, people struggle to move forward with the job or undertaking - which has been dubbed perfection paralysis.
How do you conquer this?
Letting go of perfectionism and revising to a more realistic standard of when something can be released for public consumption is challenging. To help you do this, we invited two knowledge creators to speak on their journey to overcome perfectionism during a live summit that took place in August 2022. The session can be viewed here:
Before we get into the tricks, we'll meet our presenters:
Steve Harris is a global business coach, who assists high-performing organizations and individuals connect the gap between their capabilities and their performance. Self described as "ruthless", he's been working with more than 1,000 clients and pushed them to put in the work and achieve stellar outcomes.
Grace Abbott is a multi-hyphenate creative strategist and brand building expert that specializes in growing companies in the area of content and commerce. The last five years of her career have been focused on building To Be Magnetic - turning what was once a wellness blog into an ever-growing membership website - the number one website for Neural Manifestation.
The responses have been edited to ensure brevity.
Why do people get obsessed with perfection?
What are your strategies to overcome perfection paralysis?
Digital goods don't have to be perfect, however, they still need to reach a certain level of quality to sell. Can a designer set their standards to a standard of excellence that's going to serve their business and their brand?
Grace says:
"Consider the impact of your logo on the quality of your content and knowledge you're planning to be putting out? Does it convey a convincing tale of what you have to offer? Also, things like making sure you're doing a copy edit or that you've got top-quality audio and video. Everything that is likely to help make the user experience as top-quality as possible.
However, I believe that more than anything else, you should just go for it. You don't need to have any kind of high-end production team to make an excellent video. It's possible to shoot something great on your iPhone. Just be mindful that there's no background and that the audio quality's good.
What's the initial thing a knowledgeable creator could make to create the first digital product?
Steve says:
"I discover that lots of entrepreneurs get caught up with their message and they're not thinking about the market. You must ask yourself - do I have a market that will accept my message? How do you know if there's any market to your message?
It's really quite simple - Ask specific questions such as:
- What's the challenge that my words or enthusiasm can address?
- Who is the person who has the issue and needs this solution?
- Who are the people you're obligated to serve?
- How do you discover these?
- How will they find you?
- What amount of money are they able to spend?
- Why should someone come to you instead of all the options that are out there?