1 easy way to kill perfectionism.

I didn’t want to write this blog post.

After spending almost three years writing a different blog, I was terrified about starting this one. Why? Because I wanted my first post on my new blog to be amazing.

I wanted to start things with a bang. To come out of the gates strong. To quickly establish a degree of awesomeness.

In other words, I wanted this post to be perfect.

So I sat on it for weeks. I worried about it for weeks. All the while pushing back the launch of this site. I allowed perfectionism to cripple me even while I wrote a new book that touched on that very problem. Finally, a coworker in a meeting challenged me and said, “Why don’t you just write about perfectionism in your first post?”

She was right. I don’t like blogs about theories. I like blogs about life. And right now in my own life, I’m wrestling with perfectionism. Plus, I can’t be the only one who struggles with it. I can’t be the only one who in pursuing a dream gets tripped up by it.

Believing that, I decided to share 1 easy tip to kill perfectionism today that has helped me write three books, find my dream job and publish this post.

I learned this tip while writing the StuffChristiansLike.net. It’s essentially the critical difference between “perfect” and “published.” Here it is:

90% perfect and published always changes more lives than 100% perfect and stuck in your head.

The things you create and actually share will always out perform the things that stay stuck in your head or your desk or your laptop. You might love the ideas you have inside you. You might be blown away by how awesome they are, but if you don’t share them, it doesn’t matter.

The business that is open will always wildly outsell the business that is closed.

If your goal is to change the world, you have to share your work in whatever shape or form that might take. And sometimes that means getting comfortable with A -work.

So when you face the perfectionism, and you will, ask yourself one question:

“Do I want to change the world?”

If the answer is yes, then you have to hit “publish” on a blog post, take the stage for a speech, sell your crafts online or do whatever your dream is. And you’ll have to know sometimes that means getting an A minus, not an A plus.

That’s not an excuse to half do your work. I worked hard on this post and edited it like crazy. I want you to be excellent at passion, not just passionate. But chances are, if you’re reading a blog about chasing your dream, doing things half way is not your biggest struggle. The solution to doing something half-heartedly is not difficult. Just do it better. Work harder. Try again. Perfectionism is a lot trickier and we need more tips to beat it than we usually think.

Question: What’s something you’ve done to get over your fear of perfectionism?