Progress, Not Perfection

I m not a writer by any means, but I ve always wanted to give something back, an ounce of whatever knowledge and experience I ve gained in my life in the hope of helping others.

I m tapping my fingers on the keyboard and literally just typing whatever comes to my mind. I ve decided to take action, otherwise I would feel a lack of accomplishment and regret. Regret, because I would wonder why I couldn t just assemble some words together and throw it out there for others to reflect on.

For years, I ve done this dance, you may have heard of it where you go in out, in out and shake it all about always tainted by my need for things to be just right. To be almost perfect. The perfect time. The perfect moment. The point is one day, I stopped beating myself up over perfection, and I sought progress instead. This article is far from perfect, but that s ok, because today, I m making progress.

This simple shift in mindset when applied to various scenarios leaves little room for procrastination, it requires action by default. Sometimes in search of perfection, you might put off certain actions and dwell far too long on one point, and before you know it the days and weeks have passed by with little progress. This shift comes with its own set of challenges, it means making mistakes, evaluating those mistakes, learning from them and growing.

I can t begin to tell you about the number of mistakes I made in business and in life. I left a good earning job at 25 to go and start a business in property. I analysed my risk and thought with the little commitment that I have, this would be as good a time as any to start. I grew tired of the company, working 6 day weeks, 12 hour days and thought this can t be my life. I took the plunge and for two years I invested my time, money and effort trying to piece together this enormous jigsaw. I wish I could say that there was a fairy-tale ending to this dream, but in the end, I dissolved the company and went back in to employment.

I always knew of the risks I ran by going it alone and although I didn t achieve my target in monetary terms, what I gained was far greater. The fact is, with my business or without it, life goes on. What did I lose and what did I gain? I lost paper, but I gained a taste of leadership. I lost sleep, but I gained a confidence and self-belief that only comes with building a business from scratch. Was it a mistake going in to business? Perhaps. Do I regret it? No, because without having tried and failed, I would never have experienced what I did.

Was it perfect? No.

Is it progress? Absolutely!

Go out there into the world and progress, make mistakes along the way but don t live a life with constant regret having not done enough.