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Perfection and Procrastination - a Deadly Combination

by Tudor
11 replies
Have you ever thought of these two as a combination?

How many times have you told yourself: "I'll publish the book/product/wso/report when it's perfect."

It just occurred to me - I think these two ba$tards (perfectionism and procrastination) work hand in hand to keep you and me from achieving success.

So when you use any of the following excuses to NOT get anything done and out on the market:
  • I need to format it better.
  • The header and footer are kind of ugly so I need to research on how to create better ones.
  • Oh, there's this really cool WSO that just came out and I think this is the one! I can work on my product later. It's almost done anyway.
  • I should add more content, so I'll keep reading some more ebooks for inspiration.
  • Someone else just launched a product that covers the same topics as mine. I need to make some changes.
  • I finished an entire chapter yesterday, so today I'll just treat myself by watching TV. oh look, American Idol is on!
..any of the above can be identified as either of the two enemies I talked about.


If you want, you can add your own examples to the list so you can stare them down, defeat them and get them out of the way so you'll get some real work done.


Have a productive day,
Tudor
#combination #deadly #perfection #procrastination
  • Profile picture of the author Odahh
    perfection is the false bar to avoid ..producing something and facing rejection ..

    Quality should be the aim ..and performance .
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  • Profile picture of the author Gary Ning Lo
    This was the major thing that was blocking my success some years ago.

    Always procrastinating because i was afraid that i would not be able to create something perfect. Or "what if people don't like it?"

    Then i just got over it and realized that i could always tweak the product afterwards if people didn't like it

    Cheers,

    Gary
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    • Profile picture of the author donza
      I think perfectionism is a cop out. All it's doing is hiding a fear of failure.

      Cheers Don
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  • Profile picture of the author LastingLifeSuccess
    Hi Tudor,

    The quest for perfection has prevented many an individual from ever finding out if what they have created is worth anything or not. Perhaps some folks are just too darn scared to find out.

    If they keep perfecting the product they never have to risk the rejection of finding out what the market thinks of it. Yes! This deadly duo does and will suck you under its influence if you don't recognize it and stamp it out of yourself.

    LLS
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    • Profile picture of the author Tudor
      Originally Posted by LastingLifeSuccess View Post

      Hi Tudor,

      The quest for perfection has prevented many an individual from ever finding out if what they have created is worth anything or not. Perhaps some folks are just too darn scared to find out.

      If they keep perfecting the product they never have to risk the rejection of finding out what the market thinks of it. Yes! This deadly duo does and will suck you under its influence if you don't recognize it and stamp it out of yourself.

      LLS
      Nicely said LLS.
      In my case I found that perfection was more about me than about giving something of value, so it wasn't even focused in the right direction.

      So I decided to look for delivering excellence to others than achieving perfection for myself.

      As far as procrastination goes, it's easier to avoid it once perfection is out of the way. Not that it doesn't creep its way back in every once in a while.

      Have a wonderful day,
      Tudor
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  • Profile picture of the author RockNRolla
    What you described in this thread is basically an exact insight in to my own thought process! I know I'm bad with both trying to make everything perfect before I publish and even worse with procrastination. I have got better in recent times but need to still improve on both these aspects.
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  • Profile picture of the author Moneymaker2012
    Well this is the most common situation.
    And I totally agree with your post.
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  • Profile picture of the author Andy Lemos
    There is no such thing as a perfect WSO/time/partner etc. That does not exist in reality. Work your best at whatever it is and work to get better through trial and error. If one WSO did not work out as well take notes and the failures are pointed out so now you know what to do for next time.

    To your success
    Andy
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  • Profile picture of the author Alexchan338
    I recommend you reading one of Brian Tracy's book called, "Kiss the frog"

    Heres the link (not affiliate link): Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop...
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  • Profile picture of the author andreasdl
    Oh, my first post here.

    I totally agree. Perfection can become procastination.

    I recently experienced this with my own project (and product).
    The solution has been to put out an incomplete work.

    This produced 2 reactions.

    First:
    I focused on what's important and urgent (AKA: What's really missing) instead of what my mind would say I needed.

    Second:
    I shipped early my final product and got my mind on fire again (which is good )

    So my advice when we talk about personal products is:
    Put out an incomplete work/website/blog and refine (I assume the base of your product is awesome by default).

    Hope it helps
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