Success Not Perfection
Posted by Mitch Mitchell on May 11, 2016
"Life is about success not perfection" - Alan Weiss
A few years ago I wrote an article titled Is It Bad Reaching For Perfection where I talked about the reasons why going for perfection aren't bad, but that it doesn't take perfection for one to be successful.
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Almost 6 years ago I wrote another post talking about a friend of mine, her drive for perfection, and how it was going to hold her back from being successful. Unfortunately that one turned out to be true in more ways than one.
I've always known that I wasn't perfect, but that didn't stop me from going for it. I have this belief that to attain perfection would be the ultimate thing to do, even if in the end there would probably be little benefit to it.
In another month I'll have been self employed for 15 years. That's not bad since an overwhelming number of people don't make it 5 years. I'm not patting myself on the back for that one because it hasn't always been a smooth ride.
I haven't always made it easy for myself because for years I was trying to find the perfect way of marketing my primary business to an industry that doesn't work like other industries, that being health care. Because of that lack of success I kept trying to find new ways, modify some of the old ways, hoping there was a perfect solution that would lead me to great success.
I finally found my solution, though it's not perfect, but it's definitely out of the box. I decided to stop marketing to my primary industry because those folks don't want to talk to me. For that matter, most of them probably don't even understand what I do; I'm good with that.
Instead, I work in concert with other organizations who do the grunt work and then contact me to see if I'm interested. For the most part that's been the business model I've had success with for most of my 15 years in that area. I figure why keep banging my head against the wall, so I've decided to give myself a break on that front. It's not a perfect solution but it's a workable one that's been pretty beneficial; I can live with it.
Once I decided to let that one go, I found that I brought a bit more peace of mind into my life. It's allowed me to market my other services, maybe not with great success but at least I now have people talking to me. It's allowing me to work on my 4th book, this time on motivation. It's allowed me to get paid a lot more than I previously was for writing articles. Best of all, it's allowing me to stay closer to home, which is imperative as my mother's health declines.
All of our lives are built upon our successes, large or small. Mine range from helping a hospital increase its revenue $730 million in a year to finishing my second book on leadership to doing seminars and speaking engagements across the country. I know I'm not close to perfect, but I've done some things others never will, just as people have done some things I'll never consider doing (like climbing mountains or jumping out of planes; ugh!).
I'm looking for more successes, and I'll take what I can get. What about you?
Mitch, that whole perfection thing held me back for so long. Whether that was starting a blog (waited waaaay too long before I started, my podcast (another instance where I wanted perfection instead of good enough), and stepping up to lead (where I was scared my ideas weren’t thought out well enough). Through taking action, I learned that perfection was overrated and what we really needed was action.
I’m glad you figured it out Joseph. I know so many people who suffer paralysis of analysis to the extent that they can’t even conceive of trying something because they’re afraid they’re not going to look perfect. I guess I’m lucky in being a former musician because I knew I had to practice a lot just to get good, let alone perfect. I know it holds way too many people back from trying for things that might make them both happy and successful.
Hi Mitch,
Waiting for things to be perfect always holds things up. Nothing is ever as perfect as we want. On the other hand, nothing is as difficult as we imagine, either. If I’m indecisive about doing something, it’s usually because I’ve built it up in my mind to be something really difficult.
Thanks for another informative post.
Carol
Thanks for your comment Carol. Actually, some things are quite difficult if we’re not in control of them. Not everything of course but here and there types of things. As it applies to success, the best we can do is try, try, and try again… and maybe reevaluate what we’re doing and talk to someone who might be able to offer assistance.