Overcome perfection paralysis: Tips from content creators
There's a good chance that you've encountered someone who was unable to be able to finish their project because they felt every aspect needed to be perfect. But, perfection doesn't exist (truly). Therefore, your work is left to sit unfinished on their computer or in their studio. Many might think that it a waste of time since there is no way to appreciate what the artist has created.
Perfectionionism is a significant obstruction for both entrepreneurs and creators. In a research study conducted by the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, perfectionism can be linked with "feelings of failure, guilt and indecision, as well as procrastination, shame, and low self-esteem." This is why that people find it difficult to move forward with the job or undertaking - which is known as the perfection paralysis.
However, how can you overcome this?
Letting go of perfectionism and revising to a more actual standard of what can be shared is a challenge. To help you do this We invited two experienced knowledge creators to speak on their experience of overcoming perfection paralysis during a virtual summit in August of 2022. Watch the video here:
Before we dive in to the tricks, we'll meet our presenters:
Steve Harris is a global business coach that helps high-performing organisations and individuals to connect the gap between their performance and potential. He's been described as "ruthless" and "ruthless," he's worked with over 1,000 clients, pushing them to put in their effort to achieve outstanding performance.
Grace Abbott is a multi-hyphenate creative strategist and brand building expert that specializes in growing companies that are at the crossroads of commerce and content. The last five years of her career have been focused on creating To Be Magnetic - turning what was once a wellness blog into an ever-growing membership site - the most popular site for Neural manifestation.
Responses have been edited for brevity.
How come people become caught up in perfectionism?
How have you overcome the perfection phobia?
Digital items don't need be perfect, however, they still need to reach an acceptable level for them to make a profit. What can an artist do to reset their expectations to the degree of quality that's suitable for their business and brand?
Grace states:
"Consider the impact of your logo on the content quality and information you're likely to be putting out? Does it tell a compelling story about what you have to provide? And then of course you need to ensure that you're doing a copy edit, that you have high-quality audio and video. All those things that are going to make the user experience as high quality as possible.
But I think more than anything, just going at it. You don't need to have a really high end production team to make an outstanding video. It's possible to shoot something great on your iPhone. Be sure to ensure that you don't have any background noise and that the audio quality is good.
What is the first step a knowledge creator can make to create their first digital product?
Steve says:
"I notice that the majority of entrepreneurs get caught up with the message, and they're not looking at the market. You must ask yourself - can there be a market for my message? How do you determine if there is an audience for your message?
It's quite simple to you can ask questions about:
- What's the issue that my message or my passion for solving can help solve?
- Who's the cause and needs this solution?
- What are the folks you're called to serve?
- How are you going to find these?
- How will they locate you?
- How much are they able to spend?
- What is the reason anyone should go to you rather than the millions of options available?