When to put the pencil down

During the coaching calls for the latest Course Launch Challenge, perfectionism was a theme that came up a lot.

People are struggling with figuring out when it's good enough.

You want to put out a great product.

But you also don't want to waste time by noodling over it forever.

How do you know when to stop?

When is good enough good enough?

Well ...

I have a simple answer for you:

Who are you doing it for?

Be brutally honest with yourself.

When you're doing it for your clients, when you're putting in the effort because you want to serve them better, and it feels good, keep on going.

But when you're doing it because you're afraid of what they're going to think about YOU, because you're afraid of criticism, because you're afraid of looking stupid, then you're doing it for you. Then it's perfectionism. Then it's ego.

Now, a lot of you will try to argue that yeah, you're doing it for your client, when you know in your heart that you're deluding yourself.

So you gotta be willing, to be honest. You gotta want to know the truth.

If I was there with you, I'd call you out on your bullshit. I bet you have someone in your life that you can rely on to do that for you.

There you have it. That's the test.

When you're doing it to protect your own fragile ego, it's time to stop, put the pencil down, and put it out there.

And remember, an "imperfect" product is often much BETTER than a "perfect" one.

More on that next week.

With passion,
–Calvin