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While perfectionism might sound like it would be helpful to innovation, it can be one of the biggest detriments to becoming a successful entrepreneur. How is it that perfectionism messes up opportunities for so many young entrepreneurs?

 

1. It Can Cause Hesitation From The Beginning

 

When you want your project to be perfect, it can be hard to get yourself started. Many people know they have great ideas, and they know they want to work on them, but when they sit down at their desks they will spend hours procrastinating. Why? They’re afraid of not meeting their unrealistic expectations of perfection.

 

They have experience working on things before. They know that often they don’t meet their goals and their past experiences have led to a fear of even getting started.

 

2. You Won’t Finish Things

 

How do you ever decide something is effectively done when it can never meet up to a perfectionist’s standards? A perfectionist will often want to start completely from scratch when they notice one or two mistakes. They’re known for questioning the validity of the whole project after one or two things go wrong.

 

Entrepreneurs need to be able to pick up and start the next project if they’re going to get their business off the ground, but that’s difficult to do when nothing gets completed.

 

3. Learning Opportunities Will Be Missed

 

When you fail, you learn something new for the next time. Many entrepreneurs have discovered things that never would have occurred to them before through their failures.

 

When you make a mistake, it sometimes leads to a better understanding of the core problem your business is trying to solve. These are truly moments of opportunity.

 

Perfectionists are too busy worrying about reality not aligning with their expectations to notice the full scale of these opportunities.

 

4. The Stress Levels Will Hurt You (And Others)

 

Many movies have been made about the perfectionist boss who is too difficult to work with. They demand you redo every project. They fail to properly delegate because they know they’ll do the job better themselves.

 

These tendencies make for someone difficult to work with.

 

5. You’ll Be Less Resilient

 

An entrepreneur needs to be able to bounce back. It’s great to have high standards and always be imagining something greater. But perfectionism is an entrepreneur’s enemy when it becomes their biggest focus.

 

When you can accept something less than perfect, it’s easier to learn from that mistake, let go of stress, and bounce back to the next project. Resilience is a skill entrepreneurs need if they want their careers to survive not just this project, but for the long term.