#341 This one perfect thing is holding you back!

Perfectionism disguises itself as high standards and ambition, but it's actually fear that keeps us stuck instead of allowing us to grow. Excellence moves us forward while perfectionism leads to paralysis, preventing us from sharing our ideas and work with the world.

• Perfectionism is fear dressed up as ambition
• Excellence pushes growth while perfectionism causes stagnation
• Progress isn't polished—it's gritty, wobbly, and brave
• Done is better than perfect for creating momentum
• Growth happens through messiness, not perfection

Leave a message after the beep or send an email to Aaron at growthinstigators.com and let me know where perfectionism has slowed you down or kept you quiet and what's one imperfect step you're willing to take this week.

Chapters

• 0:00 Perfection is holding you back
• 0:40 Excellence vs. Perfectionism explained
• 1:06 Embracing imperfect action
• 1:49 Call to action and invitation

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

This one perfect thing is holding you back. Welcome to message 341 of the Growth Instigators Hotline, where we ignite your personal and professional development. I'm Aaron Havens, your host and growth coach. Mindset Monday letting go of perfectionism. Alright, here's the one truth I want to center today. All right, here's the one truth I want to center today.

Speaker 1: 0:26

Perfectionism isn't excellence, it's fear dressed up in ambition. It looks like high standards, it sounds like hustle, but underneath it all, it's often just fear, fear of failure, fear of judgment, fear of not being enough. Excellence pushes you to grow, perfectionism keeps you stuck, and if you've ever delayed a good idea because it wasn't quote unquote ready, or avoided starting something because you couldn't guarantee success, being perfect is the only thing holding you back. You don't need perfect, you need movement. What if quote unquote done really is better than quote unquote perfect? Now I'll stop saying quote unquote, because that's annoying. What if growth happens through the messiness? Progress isn't polished, it's gritty, wobbly, brave and it counts. So is getting it perfect holding you back from shipping it or letting us hear about it or see it or experience it? Then, yeah, waiting till it's perfect will never come.

Speaker 1: 1:35

Think I'm wrong? Oh, go, listen to episode one of the Growth Instigators Hotline and pretty much every episode since then I mean most of my messages have been imperfect. At least they're out into the world. What about you? Are you ready to ship it? Thank you for calling Growth Instigators Hotline. I'd love to hear from you. Leave a message after the beep or send an email to Aaron at growthinstigatorscom and let me know where has perfectionism slowed you down or kept you quiet and what's one imperfect step you're willing to take this week, today and, as always, keep instigating growth in all you do.