A lot of people are concerned with perfectionism – striving to reach a level of flawlessness that seems to perpetually be a hairs breath out of reach… 

Now perfectionism can be both a positive and negative trait.

The positive aspects of being a perfectionist are that you strive to excel, build, create something to an extremely high standard.

That’s productive;

Until you become overly concerned with the project. Obsessing over minute details with your sight fixedly set on climbing to unobtainable goals you’ve created for yourself. 

This is where we come up against an immovable wall of problems.

As a business owner perfectionism quite often manifests itself in self-criticism and control issues. Two problems that are quite detrimental to the forward progression of your trades business. 

Let’s focus on Control Issues.
 
This stems from fear, doesn’t it? An innate fear of letting go of your control over a situation. Fear that your team won’t do as good a job as you – to a standard as high as yours. Fear that it will all go pear-shaped and everything will crumble if you don’t have the ropes tightly bound to your hands. 

This is a costly mindset though, isn’t it?  Because your ability to do jobs is limited so every job you do means there’s another you’re not getting to.

So how do you let go of this fear? You embrace your inner Imperfectionist.

What do I mean by this? 

Push past your need to make everything perfect by attempting to take on the mindset that perfectionism is impossible. Nothing will ever be as perfect as the mental expectations you’ve set for yourself – those are unrealistic.  

So embrace the idea that imperfectionism is the route to success. Yes, your team might not do it exactly the same as you but if you implement cohesive processes to follow, the job will get done to a standard high enough. Which will free you up to do those other, bigger more important jobs you’re always deferring.

An exercise to use which will help you shift to this mindset is weighing up the benefit over the cost. 

Every time you find yourself gripping tightly to those ropes of control. 

Ask yourself; 

Do I really need to be the person who does this job? What am I missing out on by holding onto it? What will I gain by letting go? 

So, manage your anxiety by consciously considering the cost of not delegating and by looking at how dangerous it would be in reality. As the danger factor is much less than you’re imagining.

Then delegate – properly. 

Use a delegation process – we have one we use in our coaching program. 

It goes something like this: write a system, write a checklist, implement the system, teach your team, hold your team accountable. 

So, through your reading of this article, you’ve accepted the fact that you’re a little bit of a perfectionist (we all are, so don’t worry). 

Now you’re ready to embrace your Imprefectionsim and build that successful business you’re working towards. 

Want help? Comment ‘IMPERFECT’, and we’ll send this week’s guide on delegating. 

Or bypass all that and book a chat.