So, it’s a Monday afternoon, early October, and here in the west of Scotland it’s quite sunny. The birds are overhead, blue skies, all’s right with the world…I’m sure you get the picture.
However, the garden is a bit of a mess and, if I’m honest, I should have done a load of weeding over the weekend…but I didn’t.
Why?
I managed to convince myself that I wouldn’t be able to get the job done properly because the weather forecast said it might rain.
What I should have done was do what I could, before the weather changed, rather than try and be too perfect. A bit here and there, get something done at least but no, I wanted to get it done “right”. It had to be perfect.
So, instead of doing something, anything, I planned what I’d do when I finally did get started. I made a list, what I would need, etc. In short, I procrastinated.
If procrastination was an Olympic sport, I’d be a three times gold medal winner and holder of the world’s record – just ask anyone in our family lol.
Just a quick thought but “being busy and being productive are NOT the same thing”.
I find that kind of thinking leaks over into my online business thinking as well. I’m going to try “ish-ism” What about you?
If you find yourself procrastinating in your business, perhaps it’s time to embrace “ish-ism”.
You know the kind of procrastination I mean.
“I can’t get started because I’m not good enough and it won’t be perfect.”
Or…
“I can’t do this / finish this / launch this because I’ve only edited it six times and maybe I missed something.”
Reality check: You already know that nothing – NOTHING – is perfect.
And yet we have this deep-seated belief instilled in us during childhood that unless what we do is ‘perfect’, then it’s not enough.
Perfectionism poses as a friend, telling us to work harder to ace the test, score 100 on the essay and do our very best.
But when you strive for perfectionism and you don’t achieve it, then you feel like you’re the worst.
People who got straight A’s in school, what happened that ONE time you got an A-? Or even ~~~GASP~~~ a B+??
You probably felt awful, like the worst failure in the world.
But what if, instead of striving for perfectionism, you strove for “Ish?”
“Ish” is the magical suffix that allows you to move forward and do stuff.
You keep your desk clean-ISH.
You eat healthy-ISH.
You exercise regularly-ISH.
You’re giving yourself permission to be imperfect in everything, including and especially your business.
Meanwhile, in the garden this afternoon, and “thanks” to my better half, I looked at what I could get done with the weather the way it was. For the sake of a few pounds (Bucks) and a couple of hours effort, we got a result that, though not perfect, was fine for what was needed. See where this is going…
Now, we all have “messy gardens” and I’m sure we’re all putting stuff off – I know I am lol. But, and here’s the point, - what we need to do is actually get started and do something – even if it’s not perfect. Even if it’s -ish. An imperfect start is a million times better than a perfect finish that will never happen. What do you think?
So, if you can strive to have all of your products, sales funnels, web pages, emails and so forth to be great-ISH or even just good-ISH, then you’ll have room to breathe.
You’ll find it’s easier to start things, easier to work on things and most of all easier to finish things. You’ll get far more done, and that practice will make you better at doing these things next time, too.