Winston Churchill famously said “perfection is the enemy of progress”, and it’s the favourite quote of many business leaders because it forces them to shift their mindset from seeking perfection and instead focussing on progress. Absolute perfection is an impossible thing to achieve, and in business it can be stifling, preventing business owners from taking action because they’re waiting for the perfect moment to make a business move – and that perfect moment never comes. Remembering Churchill’s quote will remove some of the stress of being an entrepreneur, and allow you to enjoy the journey a lot more.
Other similar quotes are commonly attributed to Voltaire – “the best is the enemy of the good”, and Confucius – “better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without”. Essentially all these quotes form a strong argument that part of the entrepreneurial journey has to involve gaining an understanding that certain tasks can never be completed perfectly, and striving for perfection can sometimes be a major disadvantage.
There are plenty of founder and co-founder stories that highlight how success was found through making mistake after mistake. Look at Richard Branson – he’s a hugely successful entrepreneur by anyone’s standards, but if you look at his track record, failure is a common theme. Plenty of business ideas‘ end result have been failure for Branson, yet he always bounces back with a new idea or approach, and he’s found major successes in amongst his failures.
Below we’ll explore how perfection really can be the enemy of progress for entrepreneurs and instead focus on how setting your sight on progress can help both you and your business.
Table of Contents
What Is Perfection?
Perfection is obviously where something is completed or created without any faults – it’s a way of showing that something is as good as it could possibly ever be, with no room for improvement at all.
But it’s fair to say that there’s no such thing as perfect in our lives, and the same is true in business. In the business world, there are too many external factors affecting what can happen, so there’s no way perfection is possible.
Imagine you opened a new restaurant at the start of 2020, but had been waiting to do until the perfect time where everything was just the way you wanted it. You open up at the start with the ‘perfect’ restaurant, just to have COVID-19 hit. All the time and energy wasted waiting for perfection was upset entirely by a factor outside of any business owner’s control.
This just highlights that perfection is never really possible.
Striving For Perfection Can Prevent You From Getting Things Done
One of the key setbacks of striving for perfection in business is that it will prevent you from making a business decision or move. A key task for any budding business is getting the right website to communicate their products and services in the most effective way possible. The key word here is effective, not perfect. Striving for perfection in this instance will only lead to many rounds of edits, costing you time and money.
Whilst you spend time communicating your desires and requesting change after change, you could potentially be missing out on potential clients and customers because your site isn’t live. All the while your competitors with their ‘imperfect’ site are getting the custom your website ought to be.
Sometimes in business, accepting a great situation or product is better than waiting for perfection. Changes can be made later, but when things are time sensitive it’s always better to compromise on your own idea of perfection to get out something functional that will make you money in the long run. Waiting too long in business is a sure way to grow stagnant and allow your competitors to pull away from you.
Perfection Is Subjective
Something to think about is whether perfection is even possible.
What is perfection anyway?
What one person thinks is perfect another wouldn’t agree – this applies to everything from business ideas and products to people, days, cars, houses, and just about everything else in life.
Perfection is a subjective thing, and that’s why perfect isn’t possible. You won’t, in business, ever create a product or service that satisfies everybody. What you think is perfect won’t be seen as such by others, so chasing perfection really is a waste of your time.
Instead, in business, it’s important to strive for something that please your customers and clients on the whole. Not everybody will like what you offer, but so long as enough people do, you’ll find business success.
The truth is, when it comes to entrepreneurship and business, there are very few things that can ever be perfect.
Once You’ve Achieved Perfection – What’s Next?
If you strive for perfection there is an end result. There’s something that you’ll achieve or create as a business owner that you’re 100% satisfied with if you seek perfection – but then what? Do you call it a day? Do you stop progressing and accept that you’ve reached the peak of your career? Or do you start seeking more perfection, striving to create another product that’s equally perfect?
The point is, perfection is an impossible standard, and even if you do, it will lead to a stagnant state of mind, or what that obsesses over perfection – both of which will cause your business to fail.
On the other side of the argument, if you opt for progression as your aim, you can focus on constantly improving, constantly improving your business, yourself, and your business offerings so there is no stagnancy, but constant growth. Aiming for progress is attainable, you can set real, measurable, achievable targets and constantly improve, shifting the goalposts as you go to reflect the journey your business has, is, and will be on.
How Do I Make The Most Of This Philosophy As A Business Owner?
Knowing that progress will get you further as a business leader than seeking perfection ever will is one thing, but how can you actually implement that in to your business and leadership style?
| Surround yourself with the right people | Picking management team and staff members that only strive for perfection rather than progress will lead to a very different business than the one you ought to be running. It’s important to understand the philosophy of those you work with and emulate those that focus on progress far more than perfection. Having a team with the same mindset is the key to business success. |
| Create achievable goals | To move any business forwards – whether it’s an international company or a one person band, you have to start with small, achievable goals to motivate yourself and your team. You should also ensure these goals have deadlines so progress can be made and measured in a timely manner. |
| Always learn more | When you seek progress you always have to learn and expand your mind. It will teach you new ways of doing things, help you to learn from those around you, and ultimately improve your business and your leadership style. You could also focus on training and development for both you and your employees. |
| Be willing to change | Being adaptable is part of making progress your north star as a business. Being open to changing the way you do things or what you think about certain things is the key to any business success. No matter your industry, it’s ever changing, and adaptability will ensure success. |
| Refocus your expectations | It’s important to have high expectations in business and to constantly strive for success, but success doesn’t have to be perfection. Focus on creating a business environment that champions resilience, adaptability, creativity, innovation, and excitement. Move away from perfection to focus on progress. |
How To Make The Most Of Mistakes
Mistakes are bound to happen! They can happen often or every once in a while. But what you should realise is that mistakes can truly be a blessing in disguise. How you react to your mistakes is what counts. There are certain ways to deal with mistakes as a business owner that can ensure you make the most of them as the learning opportunity that they are:
- Don’t be hard on yourself – Mistakes happen. When you make the mistake it’s about how you respond to it that truly matters. If you waste time beating yourself up about it, you won’t be able to capitalise on your mistake and turn it into a future success.
- Analyse what went wrong – The next thing to do is to focus on what caused the mistake so you can avoid making the same mistake again in the future.
- Fix your mistake – Every mistake will lead to some damages of a sort, and it’s important that you also take some time to limit those damages.
- Put in some avoidance tactics – Once you’ve changed your mindset, analysed what went wrong, and fixed those mistakes, it’s important that you think of ways to avoid these mistakes in the future. Does something need to change within your business to prevent this in the future?
Finding innovative solutions to mistakes and focusing on progressing is the key to making a success of yourself as a business owner.
Click here for more great leadership quotes to inspire you.
Is It Ever Appropriate To Strive For Perfection In Business?
Nothing will ever really be perfect in business, and it’s a subjective thing anyway. Perhaps it is instead better to strive for excellence in business. If you’re focussing on excellence over perfection, then almost every area of your business should strive for this. Some key areas include compliance with certain laws, bookkeeping, and taxes, which should all be as close to perfect as possible to avoid repercussions. Errors of this nature can cost businesses £1000s in fines.
In fairness, accounting tasks are very clear cut in terms of whether it has been achieved perfectly or not. It’s either correct or it isn’t. As an entrepreneur, it may be a good idea to hand this part of your business over to professional accountants, as mistakes can happen easily and you want to avoid this as much as possible.
The Benefits Of Prioritising Progress Over Perfection
- More relaxed, stress-free working environment
- Not as critical on yourself and others when mistakes are made
- Things get done sooner, as ideas, products, and offerings are rolled out
- Because things are happening faster, your potential customers may find you before they find your competitors
- Achievement of realistic goals
- Finding creative solutions to problems
- Your business becomes more authentic, resilient, and adaptable
- Make PROGRESS
- Better prepared for when unexpected changes and challenges occur
Gain Momentum For Your Business Through Progress
Focusing on progression helps give your business momentum and move it forward. When you aren’t wasting time obsessing over the little things, projects get done, and deadlines are met! One of the most important things about the progression mindset is that you focus on the bigger picture and see things from a broader perspective.
While details can be very important at times, they can often hinder you from making the progress that your business needs to make at the time.
Share This Philosophy With Your Team
It is incredibly important that everyone who is working with you and for you is on the same page and has a similar mindset. If you are the type of boss that has always strived for perfection, prioritising progress may take some getting used to. But it will definitely be easier when your team is there to back you up and help you get things done, as this creates a collective mindset and environment.
Ensure that your entire team knows about your shift in mindset and the shift in your business’s priorities and goals.
Do not let the pursuit of perfection become the enemy of your business’s progress! Always be aware of your business priorities and whether they are moving you forward or holding you back!
