Why Perfection is an Illusion Keeping You From Your Business Dreams

As ambitious entrepreneurs, it's easy to fall into the trap of perfection paralysis. We tell ourselves we need to refine our offer just a bit more, polish the website to a glossy sheen, or gather a bit more research before putting ourselves out there.

But here's the hard truth: perfection is an illusion. It's a shiny mirage that keeps us endlessly chasing an impossible standard while our dreams wither on the vine.

Perfection is the ultimate enemy of progress, growth, and most importantly - starting. Waiting for everything to be "just right" before taking action means missing countless opportunities to serve your audience.

The people who need your unique magic don't need you to be flawless - they need you to be present. They need you to show up and share your message, even if it's a little messy around the edges.

It's progress, not perfection, that actually moves the needle in your business. Taking imperfect action, learning from the results, and iterating as you go is what leads to real growth. Trusting that you are enough, exactly as you are, to take the next aligned step.

When you feel stuck in perfectionist paralysis, ask yourself: "What would I do if I knew it was impossible to fail?" This helps access your visionary energy to take that small, imperfect step forward.

Also consider: "What is the cost of waiting?" Every day spent holding back from sharing your gifts is a day someone isn't being served by what only you can provide. It's lost impact, income, and the chance to shine.

Putting yourself out there is an act of vulnerability - but that's precisely where connection, creativity and courage intersect. Your willingness to take messy action inspires others to show up authentically too.

Give yourself permission to start and keep starting. Take one imperfect action today before doubt talks you out of it. Ride the inspiration and trust that so much will be revealed through the doing.

Remember: your imperfect action is always better than no action at all. The world needs your magic, so embrace imperfect progress with open arms!

Thanks for tuning in to another episode of Collab with Kiva.
See you next time!

Are you ready to unlock your potential and create positive change? Let’s chat 👇🏽

Podcast Transcript:

Kiva Slade 0:02

Welcome to Collab with Kiva leveling up your life one episode at a time. I'm your host, Kiva, Slade, your personal guide to unlocking your potential and reaching your biggest goals. Through coaching, insights and mindset shifts, you'll gain insights to transform how you think, feel and approach challenges, so you can live more purposefully and reach your biggest visions. I'll bring a splash of sassy, real talk. Expect inspiring conversations and practical takeaways you can apply to be more purposeful, empowered and resilient in your daily life. So let's dive in and start expanding what's possible.

Hello, and welcome to another episode of Collab with Kiva. I am your host, Kiva, Slade, today, we are going to talk about something that may cause your boxers to get in a bench, okay. But it's really about waiting for perfection, before taking action especially in our businesses, and this is a topic that I have been coaching a few clients around. So it's definitely something though, that I also see quite frequently. So if you're listening, I have a feeling you know what I'm talking about? Yeah, I'm not the only one. I've done it myself. And it's normally that thought of, I just need to do a little bit more research, I need to refine my offer a little bit more, I need to get my website a little bit more polished before I put myself out there before I talk about what it is that I do before I fill in the blank. Okay, does it sound familiar? Yeah. Let me just break it down.

As a hard truth. Perfection is an illusion. I'm gonna say it again, perfection is an illusion. It's a shiny mirage, that just keeps us chasing some impossible standard, while our dreams pretty much wither on the vine. Perfection is the enemy of progress, of growth, and most importantly, of starting. Perfection is the enemy of progress, growth and of starting. There are and I get it, trust me, there are times that we just have so many things that we're thinking about. And we want to make it right. And we don't want to do this. And we don't want to do that. And we've listened to a whole bunch of other people tell this a whole list of shoulds. And we can't get out of our own way. And we feel like we have to have all this checklist done in order to do it. And then we're waiting for that time that never freakin comes. If we're honest, it doesn't show up. And in that time, what I've seen happen is we invest in additional programs, because we obviously must need to know more. Okay, we're giving other people our money, our energy, our resources in the whole time. We are not starting, we are not moving forward in whatever it is. And I get it. The stakes are often high. For some of us. We are in these businesses they are providing for our families. They're providing for ourselves, we provide a service, all of the things and we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to have it all figured out. You know, we want to present this flawless image out to the world. Oh, I can't go live because I must have on makeup. Oh, I can't do this because I have to have this, oh, I can't do this. Because this has to be in place. Here's the thing though. The people who need you there don't they don't need you to be perfect. The people who need you do not need you to be perfect. They need you to be present. Present. They need you to show up. They need you to share your magic your message, even when in even if it's a messy around the edges. They need you to be present. That's what they need. They don't need you to be perfect. They need you to be present. And if we're honest, that's pretty much the same message for most areas of our lives. If you're a mom with kids, your kids need you to be present. They don't need you to be perfect if you have a partner that partner needs you to be present not be perfect. If you're a daughter. You have parents they need you to be present not perfect. So I don't know where we got this. Blame Disney. Okay or whomever, but we don't need to be perfect.

We need to be present. We need to be talking about what it is that we do. We need to have conversation, we need to stop thinking that it's one more thing. One more speck of research one more this one more that, that's going to make it all crystal clear and all come together. The reality is, so much of this is an iterative, iterative process. Like if you wait for everything to be just right, we're not freaking Goldilocks. Okay. So if we waited, though, until everything was just right before people or others waited, you know, like how much brilliance how much raw beauty how much innovation we would be missing out on in our lives. Like if Steve Jobs is like, you know, that, that that little iPod thing is just not perfect yet. It only can hold X amount of songs, and I'd like it to hold blah, blah, blah, whatever we would miss out on some really cool stuff. If others were sitting around waiting for perfection, shiny mirage to be present.

So it's progress. It's not perfection, that actually moves the needle. It's that taking of imperfect action, learning from the results and iterating as you go, it's trusting that you are enough exactly as you are to take the next aligned step. There's this wonderful podcast called The Next Right Thing. And a friend of mine introduced me to it. And that's the thing, what is the next right thing that you need to take? Not the 50 things down the road from that the next right thing, that next aligned step? What is that? And to do that? Do that? Not the 50 things after that. Do that? Because again, it's that imperfect action. What did you learn from that? What do you need to tweak iterate as you move on to the next step after that, we're trying to take 15 steps in one step instead of just taking one step at a time.

So I'm gonna give you two powerful coaching questions. I want you to ask yourself, when you feel stuck in that perfectionist paralysis, because it's so real. First, I want you to ask yourself, and if you were listening to the next last episode, this is a this question is the same? What would you do if you knew it was impossible to fail? Why is that question the same? Because often times? That's the first question we need to start with. Because that's what's holding us back. It's a fear of something a fear of failure, a fear of success, a fear of fill in the blank. But it's like that big visionary energy that we need. And we need to channel you know, our Chad of the world to take that small, often imperfect step. Okay, like, get the beta version of it out. We don't have to be your alpha version, it can be your beta version, hit it, get it out there, publish that blog post, I don't book a venue, because you're going to have an in person event, whatever it is, I just need you to S T A R T start. And you will need you to S T A R T start. So what would you do if you knew it was impossible to fail? lay it all out. Because I bet you when you get all that out, you'll be like, Oh, this is all I was concerned about. I can do this. And yeah, you can do this.

The second question I want you to ask yourself is what is the cost of waiting? What is the cost of waiting? I want you to sit with that one. Because every day that you hold back, like it as you wait for this impossible standard of perfection is a day that someone else is out there not being served by your whatever it is that you do, by you. Okay. And I think about that with Amanda Berlin. I remember she once said that when we're not sharing, when we're not being present, we often are the key to unlock someone else's prison. And that sounds kind of crazy. But if you think about it, there are people out there right now needing what you do. But you don't talk about what you do. Because you're too waiting on it to be perfect. And they're still stuck.

Kiva Slade 9:54

Not being able to move forward. Or worse. They'll move forward someone who is not that person and cannot often deliver. And then there are salty because they gave their funds to someone else they entrusted someone who never was you had not did not have your special sauce could not do the thing. So it's a day of impact, it's a day of income that you've left on the day on the table. Like it's a day that you spent shrinking, instead of shining bright, like a star that you are. So what is the cost of waiting? And I get it, putting yourself out there. Yeah, it is full of vulnerability, okay. But vulnerability is also like that point where connection, growth, Courage all come together, it's that intersection. You know, and when you take that imperfect action, you actually inspire other people to do the same thing. You normalize, like, this is how we can show up, we normalize going live with a stitch of lipstick on just because it's sitting on our desk. And, hey, the same outfit from the last podcast. Why? Because we're recording to in one day, because that's the reality of life that we live. You normalize that you normalize that there's such a beautiful humaneness in this journey. And it does not have to look like some Glossy Vogue, you know, editorial, we give others permission to show up as who they are. And that is such a valuable gift. valuable gift. So I want you to challenge you today to take one imperfect action towards your dreams today. So like when you're listening to this, I don't care what day it is. And if you listen to it more than once, you got to do the thing more than once. Take one step, one, not 51 step towards your dreams today. One imperfect action. Before the doubt swoops in and talks you out of it, I want you to ride this wave of inspiration, honey, and let it carry you forward. Even if you can't see the entire path. You can see the next step. And I know that next step is already inside of you, you've thought about the next step, give yourself permission to take the next step. Because when you trust yourself to take that next step, so much gets revealed to you through the doing. You have to trust obviously, you're ready right now, like you know, frizzy hair and all. But again, it's about you showing up as your true authentic magical self. It's not about perfection. And when that little inner critic, you know, she starts piping up, just tell her to shut up and sit down. Because you are enough. Your version of Den is always better than your version of noon. Okay, you having it done. It's so much better than just sitting in the hope we get started. Maybe one day soon. So show up for yourself. Take messy action, start and keep starting. Like it's really it's a habit. Start. Start talking. I don't care what you're talking about, honestly, start talking. If you start talking about systems and SOPs, and two weeks later, you're talking about something else. At least you're talking because before you were quiet, and no one knew no one had an idea. There was no momentum to build off of.

So start, I want you to build that unstoppable momentum. I believe in you. I'm cheering you on. And I want you to join me in embracing imperfect progress. Let us give that gift to one another. Show up messy and all knowing that it's humaneness and it's beautiful. And it's just a part of who we are. So it imperfect progress. You got your to do items, and I expect to hear all about them and celebrate these journeys together. We are not islands, don't try to do this by yourself. But know that you need to show up as who you are. And the world needs you. So go out there and be keys, unlock prisons, and get people out of the situations that they are in by the amazing services that you provide. So I will see you next time. Bye. We just took another dose of vitamin Kiva. Thanks for joining me on this journey of self growth and potential. I appreciate all of you who listen, share your wins and give me feedback. If you want to continue the conversation. You can find me on my website at the516collaborative.com or you can reach me on LinkedIn and until next time, keep taking steps in the right direction and believe in yourself. You've got this!

Meet Kiva Slade—founder and CEO of The 516 Collaborative. With a unique background spanning high-powered politics on Capitol Hill and homeschooling, Kiva found her true calling lies in guiding business owners and leaders.

Originally, her work focused on orchestrating operations and data behind the scenes. But after realizing that mindset was the missing link holding business owners back, Kiva became a coach. Now she blends data savvy with research-backed psychology to help clients transcend barriers and build the business of their dreams.