If you're like most people you've been raised to aim for perfection in everything you do. This is especially drummed into us during school and college, where we're rewarded for getting something perfect, rather than just getting it done. And yet, as I've learned in my business career, aiming for perfection can be downright debilitating to your business and, indeed, your well-being.
It turns out that in many areas of life, the world rewards speed over perfection. This is especially so in business where being the first to provide a solution to an urgent need or problem, usually carries more rewards than being the last to provide the perfect solution.
There are a few reasons for this. The business that is first to launch a product that's good, rather than perfect, also captures the market first. Once such a business has customers, it also gets invaluable customer feedback which can then be used to improve that product. And customer feedback is usually much, much better for improving a product than theorizing about what will make it perfect.
But striving for perfection may not just cause you to be slow in launching a product, it may stop you from launching a product at all. By taking too long to perfect everything, you run the very real risk of spending weeks, months or years in product development, without obtaining any kind of reassuring market feedback that your idea is worth pursuing in the first place. I hate to say it ladies (yes, I'm one too so don't let my name fool you) we are prime examples of this trait!
As such, it's very easy to lose interest and motivation. As the weeks or months drag on, other opportunities can seem much more appealing, leading you to abandon your original product and start working on something else. And if you aim for perfection in this next project, spend months on it, lose interest and abandon it for something else, a vicious cycle ensues where you end up never launching products!
Even if you manage to maintain momentum in your product development efforts and accomplish a product launch, you may still be doing you and your business a disservice. By taking so long in developing and launching a product, you may be effectively reinforcing the idea that every new project involves a long, painful process... which could very well dissuade you from starting further projects!
Meanwhile, you competitors are out there with their good but not perfect products, getting customer feedback, and constantly improving their products, leaving you and your 'perfect' solution for dust.
For all these reasons and more, it's generally the case that in business at least, you're better off getting a product done and in the market place, than making it perfect. And if you want some reassurance, look at Bill Gates! With his first product launch, there were so many flaws in it, you'd hardly recognize that is was Microsoft! He knew, but he got the product out there anyway, made the improvements as the marketing campaign continued. Look where he is now! He knew the importance and wisdom of meeting the need NOW! Perfect later.
Now, let's be clear: not making something perfect does not mean doing something to an average standard. It means aiming to make something good or even great before releasing it, and then striving to make it better and better... rather than trying to make it perfect before releasing it at all. Adopt this process to your product development, product launches, marketing and business in general, and you'll almost certainly reap the rewards, just as Bill Gates did.
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