Hey Reader,

Today is my only day to work this week which means I’ve got a lot to fit in.

Yes, lots to do. Busy, busy.

Including writing and sending this newsletter.

So naturally, I’ve just spent the past hour procrastinating instead of writing it.

Can you relate?

How To Be Perfect, From A Perfectionist

My problem today wasn’t that I didn’t know what to write about. I had a good idea. But perfectionism is one of the biggest causes of procrastination for me.

The way it usually goes in my head is:

1. Sit down at my computer.
2. I need to write this newsletter.
3. This newsletter will be sent to thousands of people.
4. Many of those people will give up their time and attention to read it.
5. It better be worth their time.
6. Actually, it better be the most mind-blowing thing they’ve read in their entire lives.
7. Open new tab and start browsing YouTube.

Every damn time.

I used to beat myself up for it. Or to try to find some new productivity hack because for the longest time I mistook my perfectionism for just doing good work. I thought it was because I cared a lot.

But the reality is that perfectionism often stops us from doing our best work because we either a) never begin (thinking it won’t be good enough) or b) we never finish (thinking it’s still not good enough).

And that means that the newsletter never gets sent. The workout plan never gets made. The social media post doesn’t get posted. The difficult conversation doesn’t happen.

Often times caring a lot is doing the thing, even if it doesn’t come out as good as we hoped it would be.

Perfectionism Creates Blind Spots

Perfectionism is a bit like the blinders that race horses wear.

It gets us locked in, looking down the track, and leaves us completely blind to other ways of getting to our destination.

For example, lately I’ve been dealing with a couple of issues that have arisen from from starting a new business.

The first is that I’m noticing I’m not getting outside as much as I used to. Sure I’ll run to the shops or pick the kids up from school, but that’s always in the car. It’s one thing I really miss about the days of running bootcamps, how many hours I used to spend outside.

The second is that I haven’t really got time for weekday coffees and lunches with friends anymore. Friends I used to see weekly I now struggle to see in a meaningful way even once per month.

For a long time I was treating this as 2 seperate issues. One was a social issue. The other was a fitness/wellbeing issue. Both were asking for time in my schedule that I just didn’t have.

Then after months of feeling like I was letting myself and my friends down it struck me that I should just do both things together. Instead of coffees and lunches with friends, why not go for a hike or a swim together?

It seems to obvious now, but at the time I was too locked into the problem being about time management or beating myself up. When I let being perfect go, the blinders came off too.

If you struggle with perfectionism, I’ve included a couple of questions below that might help.

Big hug,

-Kyle

Reflection Questions

1. What things do you find yourself procrastinating or putting off because you’ve made up your mind that it needs to be perfect?
2. Do you have any problems right now that could be solved with a combined solution?
3. When you feel pressure from a lack of time, what is the dialogue running in your head? And where do you feel the pressure in your body?

The Perfect Poll

When it comes to growing or changing your business, what do you feel like gets in your way?

Pick that option that occurs most often if you resonate with more than one.

You’re receiving this because at some point you signed up to hear from me, Kyle Wood — either through Bootcamp Ideas or my coaching work.

I now coach trainers and self-employed service providers who are good at their work, but are trying to work out how to get better clients, make better money and build a business that doesn’t depend so heavily on them.

If you’re interested in connecting or working together, just reply to this email.