“In both business and life, waiting to get everything ‘just right’ is one of the most reliable ways to stall progress–and quietly miss your moment.  In business, momentum matters more than flawlessness.”  

“A product launched today–even with rough edges–has something that waiting for perfection lacks:  feedback.  Customers react.  Markets respond.  Data accumulates.  Improvements happen in real time.  Each iteration builds on the last, and progress compounds.  Perfection compounds nothing. It keeps ideas in draft mode.  Strategies in meetings.  Products stuck in internal debate.  While you are polishing, someone else is shipping.”

“Most successful companies didn’t win because their first version was perfect.  They won because they moved faster, learned sooner, and adjusted relentlessly.  The advantage isn’t superior foresight–it’s shorter feedback loops.  Speed creates optionality.  Perfection creates dependency on assumptions.  And assumptions age poorly.”

All quotes above from the monthly blog by Graphic Connections Group as written by Jeff Charlton

“I wonder what it would be like to live in a world where it was always June.”  L. M. Montgomery

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I like the monthly blogs put out by Graphic Connections Group, the printing company that produces, prints and binds my books.  I love the way this company does business and look forward to the owner’s thoughts expressed in his blogs–they always make me think.  So, is waiting for perfection better than forging ahead without completely finalizing all your ideas?  This is a business question that has been kicked around and debated for ages and, as in most complex questions like this, there are always two sides that feel they are right.

I have always been on the side of moving forward, getting a program in action, testing it out and then working to smooth out the rough edges,  and improve on the program daily or weekly.  I am not sure perfection ever truly comes as times change, people change, business conditions change.  For those waiting for perfection, they are oftentimes–maybe always–stuck at the starting line.  Meanwhile, others forge ahead, taking your almost perfect idea and thrusting that idea into action.  Sometimes they fail miserably out of the gate but within weeks they adjust their flaws, gather the comments from their audience, add or subtract some parts and pieces, and move to the next level, still a bit short of perfection but many steps ahead of their competition still sitting at the starting gate waiting for a bell to ring.

I have always felt there are times in life or business that you must simply throw the ball up in the air, forcing the fact that you, or someone, has to catch it before it hits the ground.  Action often creates the need for more action.  Maybe the next time you throw the ball higher or maybe you discover a creative way to keep the ball in motion, never allowing it to hit the ground.  Throwing the ball forces you to think, to act, to be creative, to learn, to understand that next time you may possibly need to be better prepared.

Would we be flying non-stop to London today if Orville and Wilbur waited for perfection before they launched their first flight off that mountain top?  All businesses need to be worked on and improved daily.  That close-to-perfect idea that you have in your head that you are almost sure will take your business to the next level will wither and die if you do not act.  You will be strolling through LinkedIn some morning watching others run with your idea.  

We all want to be perfect in all we do but the simple problem with that thought is that in order to reach perfection, we must go through many trial and error runs before we understand what perfection looks like.  We must not act flippantly or without thought and consultation with others, but we must act.  Do your homework and be prepared to defend your position, but never fear to move forward once you are comfortable…and most importantly, be ready to listen, learn, and adjust.

A good bit of business advice from Jeff Charlton of Graphic Connections Group.  Many reading this may want to debate all of the points made above and I accept that.  We all have a business to run and we all have different ideas as to the right road to success but just keep in mind that the world is turning fast and every single day some idea that struggled out of the starting gate is now accepted industry practice and is constantly being improved…searching for that perfection that may never come.

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Have a good week everyone, believe it or not, we are starting this business week in the month of June.  The month of summer, of sun and warmth, of sand and lime top beers, of daydreams, of happy hour circles in the Gulf.  June is also the last month of the second quarter–do you have all those creative ideas for your business in motion?  You started this year thinking you were going to do something fantastic—have you made that “something” happen yet?  June is the perfect month to try something new and exciting with your business–or maybe just to build on the great things you have going.

Here is how Sara Ban Breathnach, in her Simple Abundance  daybook, describes the month of June:

“June is generous with her authentic gifts.  One again the days are sunny and hot.  The roses and peonies are in bloom, and it’s time to feast on strawberries and cream.  School is over, summer camp begins, and visions of vacations dance in our heads.  Our smiles deepen, our laughter increases, our hearts open.  This month we rediscover that it is life’s enrichments rather than the riches of life that bring us true contentment.”

WBEDC

Ron