“I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection. Excellence, I can reach for; perfection is God’s business.” – Michael J. Fox
Let’s have a heart to heart chat today, shall we? If you’re reading this blog, I’m fairly confident that you are involved in or are thinking about being involved in network marketing, internet marketing, or another home-based business. If you’re here looking for basket weaving tips, apparently I’m not doing my job 
So, being the motivated individual you are, you’re probably a Type A personality. You know, always craving the center of attention. Standing out in a crowd. Incredible work ethic.
And, you’re a perfectionist.
Whether you want to admit it or not, you’re a perfectionist. Every one of us is, deep down inside. It’s part of what makes us strive to be better. We know that we’re not perfect, but we want to get there.
The downside to this is that sometimes our perfectionism can hold us back from being truly successful. We’re so concerned about getting everything “just right” that we end up not doing anything at all.
Let’s take, for instance, your blog. You’ve been thinking about starting one. You’ve read other blogs that talk about blogging. You’ve probably bought a few guides on blogging.
You hang out at places like ProBlogger, Copyblogger, DailyBlogTips, and others, just hoping to learn that one more tip that’s going to make your blog the best there is. A perfect blog.
Then you realize something. You ain’t got a blog. You ain’t got nothing. (My inner Kentuckian is coming out again…)
All you have is an idea and this big monkey named “Perfection” hanging onto your back. And your business isn’t growing.
Your frustrations are growing. Your disgust with your current situation is growing. Your anxiety is growing. But your business, it’s not going anywhere.
Why? Perfection. You’re so obsessed with getting everything “just right” that you’re not getting anything done.
I was there once, for a very long time. I wanted to get all my words just right. I wanted to find the right content to blog about, the right topics. I wanted my videos to be perfect, my podcasts, too.
And I was stuck. Stuck in mud up to my neck. No growth, no productivity.
Then, one day, I decided to stop trying to be perfect. I decided to just start doing something. That day, things started to change. I started getting more traffic to my blog. My Alexa rank went up (over 1.3 million positions in 30 days).
I started adding people to my list. And my business started growing.
It’s amazing what can happen when you stop trying to be perfect and you just pursue perfection. Pursuing is an act. It requires movement. You can’t pursue something if you’re standing still.
And you can’t make any money if you’re not blogging. So…
Get started. Write your first post. Pretty soon, they’ll start rolling out like second nature. And perfection will just be a goal, not a state of being for your.
Have you been struggling with being perfect? How did you overcome it? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Know somebody that is struggling with perfection? Share this post with them, or just a simple click on the “retweet” or “share” button will do the trick.
I look forward to seeing you “pursuing perfection” and moving on in your business.
If you enjoyed this post, do me a quick favor and share it with others and leave a comment below.
Don’t Stop Believing…
Mike Paul
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Hey Mike,
I've learned my lesson many years ago about trying to be perfect.
Just Do It!
When I started my blog, I had nothing but posts on the page. No Header image…nothing! I knew one thing I have to write using specific keywords to start driving traffic. As time went on I slowly started making it easier on the eye.
Now, I'm excited to know that I'm attracting positive Go Getter's to the blog.
Chat with you later…
Josh
Hey there Mike,
If there was one thing I learned, it's to be relentless. Yes I strive to be the best I can be, but I know that I cannot be perfect. Being ok with that shows we know where we are headed.
Up, up and away.
Jerome Ratliff
Hey Jerome,
Absolutely, you've got to keep pushing towards your goals, no matter what!
Thanks for dropping by,
Mike
Hey Josh,
You know, sometimes it's just taking that first step that can really bring us better results. That's definitely something that I've learned over the last couple of years.
Thanks for dropping by,
Mike
Hey Mike,
I think we sometimes waste more time try to write that
perfect article, blog or video. I wasted almost 3 months
trying to figure out if my content was good enough.
I agree to just start writing and like a good bottle
of wine, you get better with age. As you write more
the ideas will come faster and it will be easier to
finish that post.
Have a great day,
Tommy D.
Tommy,
You're absolutely right. If we wait around until we think our content is “good enough”, we'll be waiting for an awfully long time.
In the immortal words of Nike – “Just Do It!”
Take care,
Mike
Mike, you are so right! I dithered around for months reading blogs and hanging out at two of the three sites you mention. When I got serious about my own blog, my Google Page Rank went from 1 to 3 within 2 days.
Keep up the good work! ~ Susan
Hey Mike,
I agree, it is much better to just stop trying to be perfect and get something up there and improve on it after.
Thanks for this post buddy.
Wayne Vassell, signing out…
Hi Mike,
You're right, it's about taking the action and just doing it.
I want everything to be perfect, but I'm not good at waiting around. I heard blogging was effective, the next week I had a blog. Of course I didn't know what the heck I was doing so I had to start over and finally got it right (hosting and all that) by my 4th try.
Great post Mike, I really enjoyed reading it.
Make it a wonderful day!
Susanna
Hey Mike
I was definitely the guy who wanted PERFECTION and I didn't want to start doing anything until everything was perfect. That plan got me nowhere real quick.
I decided that anything I put up on my blog would be better than having nothing on my blog. So I could only progress from where I already was.
Now I pursue perfection with a passion. Tweaking, modifying, monitoring, growing. All of this means I am doing the work needed to get me to where I want to be.
Great post
Dwayne
Hey Mike,
Great Post. I fall into both categories here. I started my first blog with no idea what I was doing and went from there. But in many area's I study, study, study without taking any action. I just keep trying to learn, and leave the car in park.
You have some great advice here. Sometimes just taking some action, eventually leads to great action.
I still don't know if I'm doing everything right. The great thing about a blog is there is no penalty for not being perfect. You can add new things as you learn additional things to implement. One of the first courses I took about SEO, the guys said you know anything worth doing is worth doing poorly. Do something, anything and build on that.
Good post,
Eric McMillan
Hey Mike,
I can definitely say that I have perfectionist tendencies. Good news, though, it is a “disease” that can be conquered!
I like your idea of “working toward perfection” — the operative word being “work.”
I am yet to still establish an MLM blog, but its going to be a lot of hard work to get the right mixture of content to please your visitors. But once you have the ball rolling, things can only start getting easier.
I am yet to still establish an MLM blog, but its going to be a lot of hard work to get the right mixture of content to please your visitors. But once you have the ball rolling, things can only start getting easier.
http://www.fud7.drugstore-co.com
–
Michael Paul
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