Perfect is the enemy of good.

There is one giant hurdle which stops many an entrepreneur or small business owner from fulfilling potential. It halts progress, stalls the growth of business, and can lead to the early demise of a good idea. That hurdle is often imagined but seldom attained. It is; perfection.

Below are three lovely quotations which you can wrap up, take away and then throw on Instagram with a nice opaque background to feel good about yourself and imagine you are living your life by them.

“ Perfect is the enemy of good” - Many people including Alastair Humphreys who helps people be more adventurous.

“If you are not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late” - Reid Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn

“If somebody offers you an amazing opportunity but you are not sure you can do it, say yes – then learn how to do it later!” - Richard Branson

In all seriousness I have to admit that hesitation and overthinking have long been a brake on my life, in business and pleasure. And yet many of the biggest and best decisions I have ever taken have been on the basis of little (if any) thought. I am naturally cautious, but hindsight tells me that my instinct is reasonably good when it has to be.

Unfortunately, what gets in the way of this is often a considerable amount of over-thinking. I have said before that the quotations above are how I would like to lead my life, but in fact they bear little resemblance to my career or entrepreneurial trajectory. Except on certain occasions. I have started a company and found love from almost knee-jerk decisions to just do something, instead of thinking and waiting for the moment or the timing or the product to be perfect.

There is more to be learnt from doing than from theorising

Gradually, I have adjusted my thinking because of experience. Being adventurous in business does not come naturally to me, but time has allowed me to recognise when something is good or viable, if not perfect, and that is the moment to act. Perhaps one of the biggest liberating factors has been the realisation that actually there is more to be learnt from doing than from theorising.

Yes, I want the perfect product or the perfect service. Yes I want the perfect marketing campaign. Yes I want to perfectly represent my brand on social media. But whilst I wait for this (probably unattainable) perfection, a thousand others have stolen a march on me with “the good” and are learning how to get closer to perfection through experience, through doing.

Fake it ‘til you make it.

This is actually far too glib a sentence to be truly credible but, like many a cliché, there is something to be learnt from it. Nobody has achieved perfection by planning alone. So whilst I am not suggesting anyone abandon the pursuit of perfection, it is vital that it is done “on the job”, and not in the classroom.

Work at your product or your service, and take on more work from which you can learn.

Surround yourself with doers

One way I have found to combat my own reluctance to commit to something unless it feels perfect is by surrounding myself with doers. In business I find that a balance between my natural instinct for planning and covering all the bases is set off well when surrounded by people who want to do, rather than discuss.

I love a good plan and indeed a good planning session but in truth, many a serial planner like myself has been left behind by those who embarked on what Alastair Humphreys describes as The Doorstep Mile - starting the journey, which is often the hardest part.

Embrace changes

It’s OK, it wasn't perfect anyway so embrace the changes you need to make, as you go along. Because you are launching something prior to it being perfect, you must learn from your experience and be prepared to implement changes as you go along.

Linked to this is the fact that the goalposts are always moving, the sands are shifting, and nothing stays still forever (other clichés are available). My point is, the landscape in which you work will always change, so there is no sense in waiting for your product to be 100% perfect before launch. You do not need to know absolutely everything about a job before starting it. You co not have to have thought about every conceivable scenario before doing something.

The likelihood is that elements will change along the way anyway. Just do it, as someone once said.

What is stopping you from launching your startup or side gig?

P.S. Here is Shia LaBeouf with a (slightly bizarre) kick up the backside, should you need it :)

Author: Thomas Smallwood is an outsourcing specialist. Having worked in companies around Europe, from the support desk to the boardroom, he founded bizee.co to help small businesses grow through efficient delegation to skilled virtual assistants. He is an award-winning blogger and a passionate advocate for mental health awareness.

Connect with Tom on LinkedIn.