Do you spend half the morning searching for that perfect word or writing that eloquently expressive email when you know that a pretty great yet not quite so perfect one would bring just as effective results?

Perfection is an unattainable ideal that inhibits the action necessary for success. What’s more, in trying to do things perfectly, we miss out on key opportunities and experiences, holding ourselves in perfection land rather than putting ourselves out in the real world.

In my early days in business, I put together a presentation called “Being Unforgettable”. One day while I was with a group of colleagues, someone planted the seed in my mind of the need to walk my talk and be completely unforgettable—all the time. Up rose the fear, the doubt, and the self-inflicted pressure that I would now have to be perfect in order to pull off this presentation successfully.

This desire for perfection sent me spiraling into self-analysis paralysis! I went over all the reasons why I couldn’t do the keynote address at that time—not until my marketing materials were all redone, my client relationship management system was sorted out, my website was in alignment with my presentation… excuse after excuse after excuse.

After a few days of evaluation of my message (yes, I even considered changing my message), self-analysis, and paralysis, I woke up to my stupidity. Whoever said being unforgettable was about being perfect? I certainly didn’t. This was just another excuse I was using to not get out there and speak, NOW.

So I picked myself up, put myself out there and did the keynote address again and again. My marketing materials still weren’t perfect, or my website finalised, or my client relationship system up to date. Yet, I was able to create a fabulous keynote presentation that would never have been developed had I tried to perfect it before I got out there. The most powerful improvements came from the feedback, evaluation, and tweaking that resulted from taking the initial imperfect action.

Perfection shows up in many ways, from holding on to work for too long before passing it on, to over-preparing for meetings and presentations, to sitting stuck in planning and thinking mode rather than making decisions and taking action. The common ground is wasting time trying to make the “right” decision, create the perfect piece, and be so prepared that nothing can go wrong (yeh right!).

So how can you remove the hold of perfectionism? Below are four key strategies.

How to Purge Perfectionism

1.    Stop defining yourself as a perfectionist

First and foremost—stop defining yourself as a perfectionist.

In the beginning of almost every coaching relationship, my clients come in with certain labels they use to define themselves, such as “I’m a perfectionist” or “I’m a procrastinator”. They hide behind these labels and use them as an excuse to stay where they are. Procrastination and perfectionism are just behaviours. They are not character traits you own. Stop talking as if they are, and free yourself to change the behaviour.

2.    Give up control

Perfectionism is a risk aversion technique that holds you back because you cannot control everything. No amount of analysing will enable the answer to materialize without some trial and error and experimentation. You can’t prepare for every question that will be asked nor know every bit of information. Many times you can’t even know what the right decision is until you try it out.

Make the choice to give up the control game! Accept you cannot control everything, and choose to let go of trying. Start small, relax into the anxiety it creates (yes it will create anxiety), and breathe knowing that you are choosing an easier, happier life.

3.    Go for excellence not perfection

Strive for excellence, not perfection. Excellence equals preparation, followed by action, followed by feedback, followed by improvement, and then the cycle continues.

 Every time you have something to act upon and are floundering around trying to get it absolutely right before taking the next step, think of this model. Remind yourself that the best way to move forward and get what you want… is to move forward… and get what you want. Not to stay where you are, fluffing around in perfection land. Remind yourself that the way you improve and create the near perfect is by doing something and tweaking the results based on real, live feedback and experience.

4.    Understand avoidance

Lastly, ask yourself the simple question: What am I avoiding by trying to make this perfect?

Usually the stuff we are trying to perfect is the stuff that’s easy to do, like preparing the presentation. By focusing our attention on this, we avoid the “hard” stuff that will generate the results we really want, like standing in front of an audience to give the presentation. You can spend your life comfortable and cosy where you are or you can experience a little discomfort and learn, grow, develop, and experience the things in life you used to only dream about. What choice are you going to make?

Author of De-stress Your Success: Get More of What You Want with Less Time, Stress and Effort, Sacha Crouch is a business, executive and life coach, and expert in work life balance. For other free lifestyle resources visit www.activ8change.com.au and www.de-stressyoursuccess.com