This is NOT what my parents taught me!
In fact, they said quite the opposite. And the price I have paid over the years is that of Perfectionism and Procrastination.
No … indeed, this is what my business coaches have taught me. And in fact, these are one of my coach’s actual words.
But first, a couple of short stories.
Shortly after I launched The Entrepreneurial MD, I began to think about offering teleseminars. My Inner Critic leapt into action by informing me that there was no way I’d be ready to offer these for quite some time, and I’d have way too much work to do. I should wait a few months … or better still a year or two!
However I had signed up to take a marketing coaching program and I needed a project to work on for 12 weeks. Hesitantly, I opted to create a four-week teleseminar, and settled on an “opening night” date. I was therefore committed!
By the 12th week, The Entrepreneurial MD’s BizIdeas teleseminar had been born. Followed a few months later by BizPlanning, and now Marketing Mastery. And what a lot of fun, and good business, I would have missed out on had I not committed to do the job, despite my concerns about not being flawless!
The lesson for me was: Be willing to be less than perfect, and be ready make up the action steps as you go along.
Story number two.
Last week, I was thrilled when one of my coaching clients announced to me he had opened his new fitness and weight management clinic.
For many months, we had been working on the business plan, website, and lengthy to-do list. It seemed as if “Opening Day” would never arrive.
What excited me most was that he finally committed to a start date, even though there remained many loose ends still to be tied up. I’m also sure his clinical program will go through several iterations until he feels it’s where he wants it to be.
And what tickled me was that he had barely opened his doors when a wanna-be patient hurried in to make an appointment. She had heard about the practice and was eager to get started!
Many physicians are sitting on creative and ideas for their businesses or practices that they’d love to implement. But their over-active Inner Critics are stymieing any forward movement.
Here are a few questions to ask yourself if you’re “almost ready to go” and still holding back:
1. What are the absolute must-haves that I need to attend to, in order to launch a new program/product/service/business?
2. What details am I getting hung up on, that if NOT implemented right away, would NOT impact my ability to deliver the program/product/service/business?
3. What “drop dead date” am I willing to commit to, to overcome my procrastination and inertia?
Just remember – “The Perfection is the Enemy of The Good” (Voltaire). And perfectionism is pricey! You can read more about it at The Entrepreneurial MD Blog.
