At least mediocrity gets it done

Perfectionism is holding you back. It is giving you and your anxiety something to hide behind. Perfectionism is delaying your work with its tweaks and final polishes. It is terrified of a misspelt word or a wonky graph. Perfectionism asks for five more minutes, and then asks for 15 minutes more when that time is up.

I see you and I am here to tell you, it is OK.

For many years, perfectionism hovered at my shoulder and told me it wasn’t enough, nothing I did. That I wasn’t enough. It held me back. It stopped me from asking questions that it told me I should already know, only for someone else to shoot up their hand and be told, “That’s a great question…” while also receiving their answer. It stopped me from being creative and curious as I needed to hide behind a mask of I Already Know That. Perfectionism stopped me from being myself.

One day I saw a mantra on a poster at a large social media company — Done is better than perfect — and it changed my brain chemistry.

Done.

Is better than perfect.

Getting “the thing” done is better, far better, than getting it perfect.

A lot of the time in fact, we just need the thing done so we can move on to the next thing.

I am not trying to undermine your work, in fact it is the opposite, I want you to get more work done. I want you to take a big deep breath, let go of getting it perfect, and instead just get it done. And I am not calling your work mediocre by any stretch of the imagination, sometimes we just want a silly headline to grab attention.

Done is better than perfect. 

Who even needs perfect? You and your work are better than perfect, you actually exist. You actually help people. You are there, getting it done. While “perfect” just sits around, whispering to people they are not good enough.

Instead you need to reframe your work and always start with a purpose. Look at the reason as to why you are doing the work, what it is for, who it is for and what it needs to achieve.

Work out the purpose, and start from there. If you need any help identifying the purpose, working with an internal communications specialist will help you a lot, especially from the early stages. You can begin to craft the overall message from day one, and make sure it is reaching the right audience at the right time. 

An IC specialist will ask you a lot of curious questions, to understand your purpose and what needs to be achieved. They will delve deep and see how it aligns with your overall strategy, how it is helping your internal community and how you are reflecting your company culture.

I have always wondered how musicians, bands, artists know when a song is done. At what stage in the recording studio are they able to hear it and go, “That is it”? What does it sound like to hear a piece of music you have created and know that is its final version? The same with an artist and her painting. At what stage is she able to take a step back and put down her brush satisfied?

Because perfect was never the purpose!

And you, with that email? Or presentation? Or change strategy? How do you know that you have done enough and you can send it out into the world now, ready to work for you? All the research, work, the different iterations you worked on, is it ready? Is it perfect?

Instead, let’s have a new mantra - done and relevant.

Or, done and informative.

Maybe done and strategic?

Or done and fun!