5 words that changed my life

For at least the last 10 years, I've been saying one mantra over and over again, so much so that it's become a part of who I am and has literally changed my life.

Done is better than perfect.

This isn't revolutionary, but I'm sharing this with you because it's a mantra and belief I've tried to infect many others with, yet they resist it like the plague.

Marketers in particular can hold onto this perfectionism as a badge of honour and feel that anything less than 110% is an affront on their personal standards, the brand and their job. In their world view, the world will end if there's a typo, they must be 110% on brand, or 150% on message, or 200% aligned with key search terms or optimised for at least 15 devices or an almighty hell will reign down on this earth.

Seriously??

But they're not the only profession to be afflicted with this illness, I can promise you that! I've come across plenty of entrepreneurs and business owners who are guilt of this very thing.

If there's even the slight smirk on your face right now….

The slight upturn of a smile as this sounds a little familiar…

IT'S GOT TO STOP!

I promise you it is holding you back in your career and in your business.

You know what my real issue with the perfectionism is? It's rarely for the benefit of your customer.

While you may care about a typo in your onboarding form, your customer cares more about the fact that you've actually given them 3 forms which have duplicate fields.

While you care about representing the right tone of voice in your marketing materials, your customer really cares about how long they need to wait on hold to get a disingenuous customer service rep on the phone who doesn't actually answer their question.

We've got our priorities all wrong and it's one of the many reasons so many businesses are broken right now.

I want you to say it with me now… "done is better than perfect!"

And again "done is better than perfect!"

You might not be aware, but rather than being a strength, being perfect has a number of consequences that could be far more damaging than a typo:

• Makes you slow - it's a given but it means you aren't nimble to respond to what's happening around you. This in turn can impact your ability to grow.
• Kills creativity - instead of thinking outside the box and trying something new, being perfect can mean that by putting something through 7 hands it draws everything back to being mediocre rather than letting a few things stand out
• Disengages your team - you might like to put full stops after bullet points. But ask yourself this, does it really matter? Does that really matter to a customer?
• Erodes your self confidence - here's where it gets personal. When you're a perfectionist, you justify to yourself that you have high standards. Trouble is you're usually your harshest critic and may have unreasonable expectations of what you and/or your team are capable of. I'd suggest it's no accident that many perfectionists I know are also highly anxious about other areas of their life that they don't really need to be.

Perhaps most importantly, being perfect robs you of the chance to be better. To have gotten something that benefits your customers to them sooner, with a view to continually improve it over time.

So here's what I want you to do.

The next time you find yourself with the red pen and sending something back because it's not 'perfect' ask yourself this question: "does this change make a customers life better?".

If the new red product is ready to go now but only 80%, isn't that enough? Don't wait another week for the blue one, because frankly your customer doesn't care. They'd much rather you move onto the next problem you can solve for them.

Here's it is again… just to seep it further into your consciousness. Done is better than perfect.

Adopt it. Go on! I dare you!

What other mantras have had a big impact on your life? I'd love you to share!

You may also like:

Why I want to kill customer experience - If the curse of a buzz word is to become fluffy and meaningless, I suggest throwing away the term all together in favour of a simpler, more aspirational approach.

7 ways Meghan & Harry nailed their customer experience - we can't all marry a prince but there are plenty of lessons to be seen in the wedding of the year if you look carefully.

Five lessons in customer experience from my transgender chicken. Lessons can come from the strangest of places – including a backyard chicken coop – if you only are open to new perspectives and a bit of abstract thinking.

#cx, #customerexperience, #entrepreneur