How do perfectionists deal with lack of time or stress regarding their performances?

[Deleted78083]

How do you perfectionists deal with lack of time or stress regarding the quality of the services you are delivering to your clients? I know that good being the enemy of perfect is bad advice, but what if you can't make it perfect?

Would you agree if I said that it is better not to take a job you can't do well than doing it "badly"?

Example: I am being offered a small job as a copywriter for a website and while I believe I write well, I have never done copywriting before.

Thank you.

M.

 

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[alexkuzmov]

How do you perfectionists deal with lack of time or stress regarding the quality of the services you are delivering to your clients? I know that good being the enemy of perfect is bad advice, but what if you can't make it perfect?

Would you agree if I said that it is better not to take a job you can't do well than doing it "badly"?

Example: I am being offered a small job as a copywriter for a website and while I believe I write well, I have never done copywriting before.

Thank you.

M.

You are assuming that perfect exists.
Go for it, get th job done as the client wants it done and let the market judge if its "perfect" or not.

PS. By this I dont mean half a$$ the job if you can, no. Do it well, to your liking.
The thing is that sometimes we think something we did is good, but no one else thinks that.

 

[knz]

My motto has always been 'take the risk or lose the chance'.
I say 'yes', and figure things out afterwards in case it's new to me (when it's interesting to me of course..)

Also, your question has more to do with confidence I think, or a lack probably.
I'd advise to accept the offer, do research on copywriting, write yourself, send it to them and be open for feedback, correct it, and send it again.

It's about learning and perfecting things along the way as an entrepreneur

 

[Joey El]

Read this it shows I’m a perfectionist haha.
Had a longer response. But while collating my morning notes the replies above said it better. Here’s the bits I’m still suspicious about.

***
Except #1 (the spoiler below).
Oh and #2. At the very end- tldr; Andy’s you don’t need to be an expert, value is in service to Others.

******
I diverted into the Enneagram rabbit hole back when Lex was using it as a copy tool. Seems to me, there’s a lot in this post’s language. Are non-perfectionists missing the mark despite quality responses?

Would you consider yourself an expert in something other than what this work requires?

Re:Example...
Imagine I told you “M, I’ve worked in, studied & sold website writing. Web copywriting is un-fakeable. It’s cut-throat competitive and objective PERFECTION wins. The internet’s ONLY BEST web copy writer (Google’s #1 result for [the benefits of writing]) happens to have taught me. There is no course that could replace this perfection. It gave me THE secret.”
Would you;
ask for it,
or ask me to take on the work for you?
(Trick question.)
(But there is an actual secret.)

*********
•1 In aircraft maintenance, we HAD to be 100% up to standard. So the business managers notoriously struggle to push costs down. Not the best working environment:/

Point of the story, some million-dollar-contract consultant ran a role play with senior mgmt. Who flunked it. Then got their own back on the next level down.

Spoiler

My experience with it was from a failed tech who went & got an MBA. Came back as direct manager of our floor/section/day shift.

It’s just a simple game with a bucket of balls. The script is not known except by the 1 person that sets it up. (Then stands back & laughs.)

Can link later when I find someone who has described this & how it proves “perfect” is attainable.

•2 Otherwise it’s master craftsman Andy blacks signature threads?
My mind was blown when it clicked. He’s a digital marketer. Which usually = modern gurus (all re/selling Andy’s craft.)

P.S. Reciprocity, 1 on 1 replies...

How do you perfectionists deal with lack of time or stress regarding the quality of the services you are delivering to your clients?
Communication. Specifically expectation management, fastest feedback loop. Weird but faster = less stress (if it’s something I haven’t done before).
I know that good being the enemy of perfect is bad advice, but what if you can't make it perfect?
Is it always bad advice, do you mean ethically?
There’s always parts that must be imperfect...yes? At least to us perfectionists.
Would you agree if I said that it is better not to take a job you can't do well than doing it "badly"?
Yes. Although this honesty may = they insist. Is it a relationship that will survive the worst case? Then manage the time/stress as above.
Example: I am being offered a small job as a copywriter for a website and while I believe I write well, I have never done copywriting before.
Is this your worst case?
Theirs may be a wordless website, SEO slap for plagiarised content, 0 visitors staying because of jargon or SALES Pitch Copy!
Thank you.

M.

 

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[Kid]

When its perfect, its too late.

 

[Deleted78083]

'take the risk or lose the chance'.

This

 

[BellaPippin]

Also, your question has more to do with confidence I think, or a lack probably.

Also this. I'm getting a video ready on perfectionism... it is fear in disguise. Fear of being judged, fear of ugly criticism, fear of not being worthy. I've started working on this myself and I finally got myself painting stuff that I don't particularly like or love, some of them I'm happy enough with, but I do it for the process. And instead of procrastinating out of fear, I've painted more this month than I did all year.

I feel copy is like graphic design... you send it, they come back with things they would like to change, you change them within the spectrum of what will still work for them (sometimes they want things that are actually detrimental to their idea, and you have to give a little resistance and educate). Then you send it back.

Also remember they come to you because they probably know even less about copy. What you do is probably going to be at least 2x better than whatever they can come up with on their own. By knowing the fundamentals you're already more knowledgeable than them.

And to answer your question yes, mediocre/good/ok IS better than nothing at all. It will just be an experience and you will learn from it, the next one will be a level better and so on. You have to go through that process to gain confidence.

SO JUST DO IT like Nike

 

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[minivanman]

I always thought everything was suppose to be perfect when I was growing up (yet I wasn't near perfect and it really bothered me). So, as a young adult back when I started my 1st house cleaning business I always wanted things to be perfect at the end. I always wanted my workers to be perfect. I always wanted their caddies to be perfect. I always wanted their paperwork to be perfect. It took me about 18 months to figure out that nothing is going to be perfect.

Also, once I figured out nothing was perfect in 'work' life, it actually changed my whole life in general. That is why I like the song NUMBERS by Bobby Bare and have linked to it before.

Once I figured that out and drilled it through my own head, life has been much easier and even more fun!