Why Done Beats Perfect

Do you ever watch Harry Potter for the 100th time and nod knowingly whenever you see Hermione? Here she comes. Ready to sabotage her own success by being perfect. We see you, Hermione.

Recently, I watched “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” with my kids.  In one scene, Hermione turned in an essay that was two rolls of parchment longer than Professor Binns asked for.  Despite knowing exactly what’s going to happen, I just want to shout, “WHY, HERMIONE, WHY???????????” 🤦🤦🤦 If I only I could extend my executive coaching services and help her see she doesn’t need to do that.

And it’s not just in movies, I saw this all the time when my son was in the firth grade.  His bestie was preparing color-coded flash cards for quizzes, while my son is just rolling in with a fingers-crossed approach.

Guess what? They both get straight As.  It’s definitely unfair, but these approaches are very gender-typical and extend from the classroom to the boardroom.

Embracing the Minimal Viable Product

As an executive coach for women, I see many people who only feel confident when they are PERFECT. Meanwhile, men are more comfortable relying on their “wits.”  But, instead of getting ticked off, what can we learn from our finger-crossing friends?

We can learn to experiment with and embrace the MVP – Minimum Viable Product.  A MVP is a product with only enough features to achieve the intended outcome.

Let’s go back to Hermione and her parchment. If Hermione’s intended outcome was an A on the essay, she should have written an essay with the minimum effort required to achieve a 93 (the lowest possible A).  If she got an A-, she would know that she needed to give it a little more.  If she got an A+, she should be beyond frustrated that she wasted her time with inefficient overwork.

Striving for Good Enough

While it is true that society holds women to a higher standard than men.  It is also true that we then hold ourselves to an EVEN HIGHER standard – settling for nothing less than perfection.  But, constantly striving for perfection burns us out. As an executive coach for women, I see even the most powerful and “together” women burning out.

To shine bright 🌟, we need to develop our own REALISTIC standards for what is a good enough job.  So, when you formulate a project, start asking: is there a version of this that would give me 93% of what I want that would take 75% of the effort?  Would that version of the project achieve the intended outcome?  Is there anything I can strip out and still achieve the intended outcome?

By habitually thinking this way, you will realize that you don’t ALWAYS have to give 110% to achieve your intended outcome.  Plus, you’ll start to accept the MVP from others.

Recommended Reading

If you want to dive deeper on this, I recommend:

• Why Girls Beat Boys at School and Lose to Them at the Office: Hard work and discipline help girls outperform boys in class, but that advantage disappears in the work force. Is school the problem?

• HBR Women at Work Podcast: Perfect Is the Enemy

• Women Did Everything Right.  Then Work Got Greedy: How America’s obsession with long hours has widened the gender gap.

Perfection and Procrastination

There’s something else to consider when you’re striving for a ridiculous standard of perfection. You end up procrastinating and finding excuses not to launch yourself into your projects out of fear of failure. I see it all the time in my executive coaching for women practice. Clients feel they can’t start their side hustle or career transition or pursue their goals because the timing isn’t perfect enough. Or maybe their idea isn’t perfect enough. Or their life just isn’t aligned and perfect enough to embrace their dreams.

A lethal combination of perfection and procrastination will slowly suffocate your goals, dreams, and productivity. Instead, let’s focus on taking action and getting things done. You and your dreams are good enough, so honor yourself by taking action.

If you’re ready to take action and want to explore executive coaching with Wayfinders, I would love to hear from you!! Apply for a complimentary Discovery Session here.

Remember, anyone or anything that doesn’t LIGHT YOU UP is too small for you ✨

Sarah-Nell Walsh

Business Coach + Growth Strategist

PS – If you know someone who is engaging in inefficient overwork, striving for the A+ when an A or even a B+ would work just fine, forward this blog post along.  💌💌💌 It might be just the permission slip she needs to embrace the MVP.