I remember flipping through the pages of “Ready, Fire, Aim” by Michael Masterson a few years back. That book was a revelation, a jolt to my system that got me questioning and eventually shedding my cloak of perfectionism.

It’s easy to succumb to the idea that everything has to be perfect before we take a step. We often find ourselves stuck in the planning phase, meticulously prepping for a future that may not even unfold the way we imagine.

Take my podcast for instance, the idea for “Tech your Business” struck me in early 2021. I noted it down in my Todoist app and then… well, nothing happened for a while. Why? Because I was waiting for the perfect time, the perfect setup, the perfect everything.

In 2022, I decided to just go for it, perfection be damned. I started with recording the first episode and publishing it using SoundCloud. Was it perfect? Not by a long shot. But guess what? That first step gave me more information on what next to do than all the months of planning and waiting for perfection ever did and it keeps getting better with each episode!

Starting something new, be it a project or a business, is like trying to push a stationary car. It’s tough to get going at first, but once you start, it’s easier to keep moving. This is what momentum is all about, and momentum is what leads to progress.

We often get stuck in the ‘getting ready to get ready’ phase. We convince ourselves that we’re preparing, that we’re just ensuring everything is in order before we embark on our journey. But more often than not, this is just fear disguising itself as preparation.

Don’t get me wrong, preparation is good. But there comes a time when you need to ask yourself if you’re genuinely preparing or just hiding behind the guise of preparation to avoid taking the leap.

I’ve seen this happen time and time again in business. We spend so much time crafting the perfect business plan only to realize once we start that so much can change. Markets shift, consumer tastes evolve, competition intensifies – the list goes on. And your meticulously crafted plan? It becomes obsolete.

A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow. In life, the only constant is change. So instead of striving for perfection, aim for progress.

Just start.

It doesn’t have to be perfect. It just has to be done. Because done is better than perfect.

And who knows? That ‘imperfect’ start might just be the first step towards something truly great.