All too many of us fall prey to perfectionism.  Do any of the following symptoms ring a bell for you?

• You miss self-imposed deadlines for creating new products or services because the new offerings have to be “just right” before you introduce them.
• You often feel that you’re settling or taking the easy way out if you produce something that’s “just” good.
• You have all kinds of ideas for upgrading your website, but you won’t implement any of them because you have to do all of them at once to make it perfect.  (This is despite that your last update was done sometime in the last century.)
• You say “no” to opportunities to get in front of your ideal clients because you’re afraid of not doing a perfect job in a new and unfamiliar venue.
• You plan and analyze and prepare and research and plan and refine and tweak and deliberate…and in the meantime, a competitor with the same idea surges ahead of you because she took action while you were simply getting around to it.

Ouch.

You pay a very high price for perfectionism. Emotionally, you lock yourself into feeling that you’re never quite good enough, since nothing ever does – or can – turn out perfectly.  You tend to focus on what’s missing rather than what’s already been accomplished, which tends to sap your energy just when you need it most.  It makes it almost impossible to celebrate your achievements or accept other people’s congratulations on them.

And that says nothing about the practical costs of perfectionism.  It’s practically a cliche of our times: How someone took action on an idea – and reaped the financial rewards – while others were trying to perfect the same idea before taking it to market.   Can you even begin to estimate the cost in lost business of saying “no” to a new and uncomfortable opportunity to brand yourself as a subject matter expert?

As a recovering perfectionist myself, I know what I’m talking about.  Fortunately, I have numerous people in my work and personal life that refuse to let me get away with playing small under the guise of “making it perfect.”  One good friend and colleague, Pat Schuler of Kick Butt Sales Training, has a particular pithy way of goosing me along: “80% and go.” In other words, create a product or service that’s 80% as fabulous as it can be, then throw it out into the world.  This reminds me of another quote (and I need help on figuring out who to attribute this to).  It goes something like this: “A good plan executed well is better than a perfect plan that’s never acted on.”

How do you nudge yourself out of Perfection Paralysis?  How do you convince yourself to be gutsy enough to do a good job, rather than thinking you can do a perfect one?  Be a pal and share – maybe you can cut back on the learning curve for the rest of us.

It occurs to me that I could eventually re-purpose these blog posts into my very own “tell all” book.  No juicy scandals, just lots of stories of how the Universe kept presenting me with opportunities to learn crucial lessons until I actually got the message.  

Yippee.

Today’s lesson has to do with the absolutely vital need to resist taking action until you know the right action to take.

I once again was presented with a learning opportunity in this regard as I sought to create a mailing list for an ongoing marketing campaign.  You see, I don’t want to do a standard mail merge that will create personalized e-mails and ready-to-print mailing labels.  I just want to be able to import key names and addresses into my SendOutCards account and keep the mailing addresses of these key contacts neatly organized.  Simple, right?

Yes, it would have been simple had I just stopped long enough to identify what my real objective was.  Instead, I was in such a hurry to act, to get this task checked off my To Do list, that I just barreled ahead selecting names from my Outlook address book.  Create the distribution list, get the right names in it, hurry hurry hurry.

“But, wait, Kath – didn’t you say you weren’t going to do an e-mail campaign?”

Oh.  Yeah.

I’m not willing to confess how many times I dinked around with my Outlook contact list, my Business Contact Manager list, and (it felt like) any other list of names I could put my hands on. Let’s just say that eventually I got whomped with the cosmic 2×4 and figured out what I really needed to do was track down all the snail mail addresses possible, update my Outlook contacts, export that contact  information into a spreadsheet, make sure it was no more and no less information than I needed, and proceed with creating my marketing campaign.

What’s that saying? When you’re up to your ass in alligators, it’s tough to remember that your original objective was to drain the swamp. I’m coming to realize that sometimes the alligators don’t come in the form of obvious challenges, but instead can be disguised as the best of intentions – “Look at me! I’m taking action!”

Here’s wishing you a shorter learning curve than I’ve had so far.  In fact, if you want to piggy-back on my lessons and maybe avoid re-inventing the wheel when it comes to taking effective action, let me know; maybe I can help.

BTW, thanks to Bogeskov, whose alligator image I found on flickr.

It’s so easy to get sucked into thinking that big, dramatic moments and movements are the only ones worth celebrating.  Athletics are a prime example.  We love watching Olympians  compete and set new world records, but we downplay our own efforts to change from being a couch potato to someone who regularly walks a mile four times a week.

Big achievements are absolutely worth cheering, but that doesn’t mean they’re all that’s praiseworthy.  I think in some ways it takes more determination and more courage to celebrate your baby steps.  I also think the world in general would benefit if we all paid more attention to little bits and pieces of progress.

One of the biggest hurdles to celebrating small steps is comparison.  If I’m on track for a $20,000 year in my very first business, that’s certainly worth a loud “Woohoo!”  However, if I look at someone who’s in her fifth year of business and is moving toward $100,000, my $20K starts looking pretty measly.  That’s unfortunately the nature of comparisons: Someone inevitably ends up looking “less”.  Why waste your energy on that?

The only really motivating, energizing comparison is between who you are now and who you used to be.  Note that I didn’t say who you are and who you could be.  If you focus on could, you’re way too likely to, again, start comparing yourself unfavorably with other people or with what you feel you yourself “should” have already accomplished.  Instead, you’ll feel far more confident and accomplished if you look at the old you and the new one, then track just how far you’ve come.

Since I tend to fall prey to this myself, I’ve just committed to making a daily list which I call, “Damn, I’m good!”  On it, I’m keeping track of all the things I’ve done well today, no  matter if they look little or not.  An activity wins a place on this list if it meets one or more of the following criteria:

• I feel good about having done it.
• It represents a commitment I followed through on.
• It’s something I did for the very first time.
• It required me to push through discomfort in order to achieve the end result.

Needless to say, big things will get on this list: signing a new client, being asked to speak at a national conference, winning an award.  But, since there are, by definition, more little accomplishments in life than big ones, I’m also celebrating those baby steps: getting a blog post out on the scheduled day, cleaning out my inbox, learning how to add a Facebook Like button to my web pages.

What about you? What are some of the small steps you’re taking that you know are moving you closer to your big goal?  Let us know so we can cheer you on!

(BTW, thanks to berenicegg, whose darling image of a baby bravely taking steps I found on flickr.)

I was researching quotes about action today for my ezine, and I came up with several that felt like they were written just for me:

• All know the way; few actually walk it.  (Bodhidharma)
• Small deeds done are better than great deeds planned.  (Peter Marshall)
• Doing things is not the same as getting things done.  (Jared Silver)

Is it just me, or do those make you cry, “Owie owie owie!”?

As entrepreneurs, it’s really easy for us to come up with great ideas for products, programs, and services.   When it comes to action planning, that’s a bit trickier, simply because we typically have so damn many great ideas; how do you figure out which one to start with?  But even that’s a piece of cake compared to coming up with an implementation strategy.

What to do?

I can always tell when I have too many ideas swirling: I start looking for a security blankie and a nice corner to curl up in.  When this happens, I’ve found several approaches that slow me down and calm me down.

• Move (not out of state, just out of my office chair).  Taking time out for some stretches or even a quick walk decreases my stress level, gets the blood flowing, and gives me just enough time away so that I come back fresher.
• Map it out.  Very often, sketching out what feels overwhelming allows me to get a better mental handle on the situation.  For me, “sketching” has nothing to do with drawing pictures.  Instead, I just jot down words representing the primary swirling thoughts, then see how or if they connect to each other.  Doing this enables me to see more clearly which one of my proposed courses of action is more important than the others; this, in turn, gives me a starting point for creating my action plan.
• Talk it out.  I’m fortunate to have two separate Mastermind groups I can turn to for input.  Very often, I can get a clearer understanding of the situation as I hear myself talk.
• Chunk it down.  This is probably my favorite sanity saver.  So many “action steps” are in reality enormous tasks that simply can’t be done all at once.  In a case like this, it’s far easier and more motivating to take that big honkin’ step and break it down into a whole series of smaller steps, each of which feels (and is) far more manageable.  For example, “update website” might be only a single item on your To Do list, but how many sub-steps do you actually have to take to accomplish that task?  You’ve got a much better chance of moving toward this goal by breaking it down into tiny steps that you’re actually willing and able to tackle.  Far better to make small but consistent steps forward than to paralyze yourself so much with a huge task that it never gets done.

So what have you found that helps you with goal setting, action planning, and implementing? Let us know!  It would be great if we could all become poster children for the following quotes:

• Action is the antidote to despair. (Joan Baez)
• The best way out of a problem is through it. (Author unknown)
• Action always generates inspiration. (Frank Tibolt)
• Success will never be a big step in the future; success is a small step taken just now. (Jonatan Martensson)

I’ve been feeling stressed lately and have had a hard time figuring out what was up. After a certain amount of whining, pondering, and ingesting mass quantities of chocolate, I realized I’ve been pushing too hard.

Does any of this sound familiar?

• I love my work, so it doesn’t feel like work, so I don’t keep regular office hours, so I often work more than an eight-hour day.
• I’m confident I’m doing the right things in the right order.  Unfortunately, there are just so many right things to do, I tend to focus too much on what remains undone, thereby ignoring everything I’ve already accomplished.
• Instead of staying focused in the moment, I allow myself to dwell on the list of tasks yet undone.  This contributes to my feeling ineffectual, burdened, and generally sucked dry of energy.
• I try to hurry through tasks, which increases my stress level, puts me at risk of making careless mistakes,  and decreases my overall effectiveness.

What have I been thinking?!?

Now that I’ve realized the insanity of this approach, I’m able to step back and re-group.  

• I re-arranged my To Do list so that I wasn’t trying to pack an unreasonable amount of activity into a single day.
• I now keep a closer eye on the time, so that I walk away from my laptop—even from leisure activities—no later than 8 p.m.  This gives my system a chance to settle down after the stimulation of computer work.
• I also monitor myself for half-hearted activity.  You know the kind, where you’re sorta kinda working on a task, but with so little concentrated effort that a random piece of lint can pull your attention away.  This is when I apply the principles from my dog-training classes: Speak to the misbehaving party in a firm, calm voice, using simple commands, as in, “Okay, Kath, stop.  Focus.”
• I have additional heart-to-heart talks with myself where I make the following recommendation: “Kath, take it easy, breathe, and just work on this one task in front of you.”  (I find it works best if I say all this out loud; my husband and my dogs are learning to ignore me when I go into this mode.)
• I give myself permission to work some place other than my office or my usual coffee-shop haunts.  The change of venue and energy re-charges my batteries and enables me to actually enjoy focusing on the important stuff I may have been ignoring.

When you’re running on empty, what do you do to revitalize yourself?  I’d love to hear about additional resources!

(By the way, if you live in the Twin Cities and love the idea of a working, in-town get-away, check out the business mini-retreat I’m hosting at the Landscape Arboretum in Chaska on February 23, 2012.  A real fireplace, free WiFi, free admission to the Arb…and 900 acres to roam in if that’s the activity that will re-charge you best.  I’d love to have you join us!)

(Last but not least, thanks to basykes for the horribly apt photo of overwhelm.  I found it in the Creative Commons section of flickr.)

The Japanese call it kaizen.  Depending on which definition you subscribe to, kaizen can refer to continuous improvement in everything from personal efficiency to manufacturing processes to the overall way one lives one’s life – and probably everything in between.

If you think about it, this is a very comforting approach to growing a business.  It keeps you from perfection paralysis, or acting as if you’ve only got one chance to get it right (whatever “it” is).  It also makes it much more difficult to beat yourself up if you don’t anticipate and address every single potential obstacle in advance; after all, you expect to be continually improving, so there’s absolutely nothing wrong with not getting it totally right the first time.

By taking an approach of kaizen, you can acknowledge and celebrate what you’re currently doing well, and at the same time be comfortable knowing that you’ll probably discover ways of doing these activities even more efficiently and effectively as time goes on.  It’s a way to deftly avoid the dichotomous, good/bad, black/white thinking that’s so common to American business (and, I would argue, to American life in general).

Although I’ve got a system worked out that allows me to stay on top of e-mails without letting them take over my entire day, I find myself experimenting with ways to improve that system. For example, I belong to a Mastermind group with a very active Facebook presence.  Our FB group has over 100 members who post questions, answers, and observations.  Since there’s always information to be gained by reading the posts (and information to be shared by responding to them), I always check out my e-mail notifications of activity on our group page.

As I look back over the last several months of membership in this group, I realize my method of handling these e-mails has evolved:

• I started out by succumbing to the lure of reading and responding to messages as they came in.  This naturally prevented any backlog, but it played hell with my focus on other, more  mission-critical tasks.
• Then I experimented with letting the messages accumulate until the end of the day, so that I could deal with them all at once.  This allowed me to stay focused on other tasks, but it made  me feel overwhelmed when I saw I had dozens of e-mails to get through at one time.
• Now, I’m enjoying the best of both worlds.  I allow myself up to 15 minutes to clear my inbox of these FB-update messages each morning.  (Yes, I know – many people advise against this.  However, by using my trusty online stopwatch, I save myself from falling down the inbox rabbit hole.)  I then ignore incoming messages for a couple of hours, after which time I once again set my stopwatch for 15 minutes of intense read-and-respond activity.  After that, it’s a matter of “wash, rinse, repeat.”

What are some activities where you’ve continuously improved your performance?  Please share them with us, so we can all grow through kaizen.

(By the way, thank you to Brandon LLW for his image of the kaizen scroll.  If you like it, you can find it on flickr.)

I vote for blooming.

I’m not totally thrilled about being in mid-life to begin with.  I’m too damn young to have knee pain and this much grey hair (even though my stylist calls it “platinum”).  I’m really  not okay with being in a whole new age category when I take surveys, and don’t even get me started on receiving mail from AARP.

So, with all that stuff to contend with already, I’m so not interested in having a crisis, too.  I’m grateful I don’t have to.

Don’t get me wrong: There are a lot of things happening that I need to deal with.   I’m concerned that the facial tic I get when the snow starts flying will become permanent if I spend too much longer in a state where winter lasts five months.  My husband, who is a gifted caregiver, is striking out in a new direction in his business.  And my two Golden retrievers shed so much that, if I use any face cream at night, I end up looking like a Wookie in the morning with dog hair clinging to my face.

Oi.

The good news is that I’m having such a good time despite a few challenges.  I have an enormous amount of fun partnering with my clients to create powerful action plans that get them results.  I have a new office space that’s a delight to work in.  I have three MasterMind colleagues who are an amazing source of insight, inspiration, and tough love.  My platinum hair is cunningly concealed by two (or three…maybe four) colors, one of which, I’m sure, actually does resemble my natural hair color.   I’m feeling more creative and more powerful than I ever have before.

So Woohoo! to those of us who choose blooming over crisis.  I hope you enjoy your fabulous mid-life as much as I’m enjoying mine.  Please let me know if I can help in any way—I make a terrific cheerleader.

In the United States, a lot of people celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday.  Theoretically it’s a time to express thanks and appreciation for everything and everyone in our lives.  In actuality, it often is just the prelude for the madness of “Black Friday” sales.

(For those of you who are lucky enough not to know what Black Friday is, it’s the day after Thanksgiving, when many people start their holiday shopping.  I found out just a few years ago it’s called that because it’s the day many retailers finally go “in the black”, i.e., show a profit.)

Many U.S. retailers opened at midnight on Friday, November 25th – and there were crowds of people waiting to get into the stores.  Why would some battle their turkey-dinner-induced inertia to go out in the cold and shop at midnight?  That’s a great question. Maybe it was because they wanted to get great deals and save money, or to have an adventure, or just to have the satisfaction of being first in the door.

I’ve got a nice little natural buzz going.

I’m working with an accountability buddy as part of a year-long coaching program I signed up for.  Deb and I check in with each other every single day; the goal is for each of us to keep the other on-task with those important-but-often-uncomfortable activities that will grow our businesses and our bank accounts.

My commitment for today was to get my opt-in offer posted on this website.  If you look in the upper right corner, you’ll see that it’s there.

Woohoo!

I may have gotten this done just 15 minutes before our check-in phone call, but the big deal is that I did get it done.  On top of that, this task involved me doing some sorta techie stuff, which is a HUGE flippin’ deal for me.

I feel bouncy and energized and powerful, which is what prompted the title question. Can we really create more of the “feel good” hormones by accomplishing goals and implementing ideas?  Based on my experience, the answer is a resounding YES!

I’m starting to realize that moving from ideas to action, from having lots of new ideas to actually seeing those ideas through to completion, has benefits I hadn’t thought of before.

I’ve been telling clients that the “product” they get at the end of our 90-day collaboration is a set of prioritized, step-by-step action plans.  That’s certainly true, and it’s important:   a sound business-building idea won’t do you any good until you find a way to put it into action.  It’s also true that once clients have those action plans they feel:

• relieved to be out of overwhelm
• supported in their business growth
• confident that they’re doing the right things in the right order
• committed to doing the tough-but-necessary tasks

However, I’m thinking now that even that is not the whole story.  

Maybe one of the biggest benefits they get from taking action and implementing great ideas is the renewed sense of energy, excitement, and personal power they get from it. That’s nothing that anyone can easily quantify, but it’s invaluable.  Just think how much more we’d all be willing to tackle if we approached tasks with a kick-butt-and-take-names attitude. Personally, I am so there.

 I am woman; hear me roar!

One of the reasons I enjoy such great relationships with my clients is that I’m so familiar with the feeling that my head may explode from all the possibilities facing me.

I find it curious and aggravating that I still think I “should” be able to avoid this feeling, since I teach others how to avoid it.  This is idiotic thinking for two reasons:

1. “You teach what you most need to learn” is something I absolutely believe in, and it’s okay that I’m still in the process of learning.
2. It’s always easier to look into someone else’s business than it is to look in your own.  That’s why I belong to two Mastermind groups: so I can rely on trusted others to do the looking-in for me.

If you spend more time than you’d like in paralyzed, deer-in-the-headlights mode, here are some suggestions for getting out of overwhelm. 

1. Rather than let your thoughts go spinning round and round in circles, write out everything that you want to tackle.  Putting thoughts and idea on paper goes a long way to creating a feeling of control.
2. Be ruthlessly honest in letting go of things that you know you’re not going to do, even if they sound like good ideas.  Maybe they’re not good ideas at this time; maybe they’d be energy suckers no matter when you tried to do them.  In any event, saying an enlightened “no” to certain tasks will not only clear your mental, emotional, and (often) physical decks for action; it will help preserve your sanity, as well – which can’t be over-rated.
3. Be strategic.  Think in terms of mission-critical versus important versus nice ideas.  You can’t afford to spend time tweaking with the nice ideas if your foundation isn’t already strong.  Let go of the desire to address anything other than mission-critical tasks; that will take a lot of possibilities off your plate.

So:  What have you found that keeps you sane, in control, and out of overwhelm?  Don’t be shy about sharing your success strategies here!