Progress over Perfection

Through the course of my business + blog, I have had to make several decisions along the way that dictate the course Spruce Rd. is taking. Should I start a blog? A newsletter? A free webinar series? With each decision comes a lot of deep thought, as well as measuring it up against my vision to see if it aligns. If you haven’t figured it out by now, I am an introspective person and give a lot of thought to decisions! This is part of why I LOVE branding… I get to put my thinking cap on and problem solve, as well as let my creativity loose. Win/win.

Paralysis vs. Perfection

Sometimes though, these ideas can become

paralyzing

, and you just need to take action! If you’ve done the research and given it some serious thought, it is time to let that idea out of its cage. I see this all the time with clients. We start a branding or website project, and everything is going smooth. We both love the direction it is taking, and are excited! But then that moment of doubt creeps in… is this going to be my website forever? What if I need to add something later, it isn’t 100% perfect! I have some freeing news for you: It won’t be perfect! Your mindset might shift down the road, and that is okay. While that may seem like a downer, I mean it with best intentions. If you wait for your branding, that idea you have, or your blog to be perfect… you just might never start it. Don’t overthink it!

This is why you hear of people never taking that leap to pursuing their passion full-time, or a website project taking years to complete (when it could take mere weeks), or never taking that next step in your business. I say

just go for it, and you will learn as you go.

 I don’t say that lightly though! It all depends on what you are trying to launch. Make sure that it aligns with your

vision

, as well as set milestones to help you achieve that goal. My point is simply that there is always a reason NOT to do it, so just do it. Imperfect progress is better than feeling paralyzed.

Getting started is the hardest part

As a solopreneur, this mantra definitely resonates with me! I have a pretty tight grip on everything in my business, and struggle with moving forward without knowing everything will turn out perfect! A great example of this has been my blog. To be honest, I didn’t follow all of the suggested ways to gear up for the launch of my blog. I didn’t have a backlog of posts ready to launch. I didn’t know the purpose behind it when I initially started blogging. Really, I just wanted a creative outlet. Once I launched, I continued to learn as I went along, and picked up strategies, even changed my web design, and defined my purpose on the way. Though that is not ideal, I don’t regret my path at all. If I tried to make it perfect from the get go, I might have never launched! The hardest part is always starting, but once you start you can refine throughout your journey.

[Tweet “Choose progress over perfection”]

Have you embraced this mantra of choosing progress over perfection? If so, I would love to hear about what you launched, and how you got over that tight grip of control! Tell me about it in the comments.