Are you waiting for the perfect time, the perfect caption for that social media Post the perfect moment to send that pitch email. Here's your reality check today. Perfectionism isn't protecting your quality, it's killing your progress. Hi, I'm Cindy Gordon, a self-made entrepreneur, busy mom and execution coach. I built and sold multiple digital businesses, and I'm the founder of the Growth Collective, which is a dollar a day business support system where entrepreneurs get weekly office hours. Actionable courses and a community that values progress over perfection. And here's what I've learned along the way. Done is better than perfect. It's not just a catchy saying, it's the ultimate productivity hack for overwhelmed entrepreneurs. And before we dive in, if you are not getting my weekly productivity tips yet, grab them using the link in the show notes. They're the behind the scenes systems that I use to stay productive while running my business. In the next seven minutes, I am breaking down exactly why perfectionism is destroying your productivity and how to reality check your way out of perfectionism paralysis if you want access to frameworks like this, plus my weekly productivity strategies, make sure you are on that email list. This is something that comes up again and again with the clients that I work with. You sit down to work on something important, a launch, a sales page, an email to potential client, and then suddenly you are tweaking the same sentence for 20 minutes. You don't start at all because you are waiting for the perfect moment when you'll have more time, more clarity, and more energy. The truth is that perfectionism that you think is making you more professional, it's actually procrastination, wearing a productivity costume, and for overwhelmed entrepreneurs. Perfectionism doesn't just slow you down. It creates the exact overwhelm that you are trying to avoid. When everything needs to be perfect, everything starts to feel urgent. And when everything feels urgent, you know what's coming. Nothing really is. Here's something fascinating about how our brains work when it comes to perfectionism and productivity. Your brain thinks perfectionism equals safety. If you make everything perfect, you won't get judged. You won't fail, you won't look incompetent. But here's what actually happens. Perfectionism leads to procrastination, which leads to paralysis. You're so worried about doing it perfectly that you either don't start or you get stuck endlessly revising instead of just doing the thing. The psychology of this is simpler than you think. Perfectionism is just fear in disguise, and for entrepreneurs, the cost is massive. That perfect offer, you're designing, your competitor just launched their imperfect version and made money. That flawless social media strategy. You're planning. Someone else just posted their messy, authentic content and built a real connection. So how do you break free from. Perfectionism paralysis. Let me walk you through what I teach first. With anything, you are going to reality check it. You need to reality check what actually needs to be excellent versus what just needs to be done. Not everything deserves the same level of polish, your brand messaging that matters, the formatting of your internal checklist. That can be messy. Start by asking yourself, what's the real standard here? Most of the time, good enough is actually perfect. Next, use what I call the 80 20 rule for perfectionism. If something is 80% done, that's good enough for most things. The reality check, what's the 20% that truly matters for a client proposal? The pricing and deliverables matter. The font choice, not so much. Focus your perfectionism on that 20% that actually moves the needle, the game changer. Give yourself permission to do the imperfect work. I mean it launch the offer before the sales page is flawless. Post the content before the caption is poetry. Send the pitch before you've rewritten it five times. But here's what I've learned from building multiple businesses. Imperfect action beats perfect planning. Every single time when the resistant shows up, remind yourself that done is better than perfect because perfect is never actually done. Let me say that again. Remind yourself that done is better than perfect because perfect is never actually done. Perfectionism doesn't have a finish line. You could be tweaking that thing forever. Build this into your existing routine. Set a timer for your work sessions when the timer goes off, whatever state it's in. That's your good enough marker. So whatever your end result is, do the thing, publish it, send it, ship it. Don't give yourself the option to keep polishing. The most common obstacle I hear is, but what if it's not good enough? Your reality check is, your standards are probably way higher than your audience's expectations. What you think is just okay. Work is usually impressive to everyone else. The only person judging your work as harshly as you are, well, that's you. To maintain momentum, celebrate imperfect wins every time you, publish it, ship it, et cetera. Something that's not perfect, but it's done. That's a victory. You are breaking the cycle of perfectionism. One imperfect action at a time. Let me give you some real examples of what this looks like in business. I've had clients launch offers with imperfect sales pages that convert beautifully because the messaging was clear even if the design wasn't magazine worthy. I've seen entrepreneurs post messy behind the scenes social content that built more connection than their polished, perfect feed ever did. One client delivered good enough work to her clients on time and got rave reviews while her competitor's perfect work was constantly late and frustrated everyone, another entrepreneur built imperfect systems that actually got used versus the perfect systems that she never implemented because they were too complicated. This approach has become second nature in my daily routine, I constantly do imperfect things. This podcast probably has imperfect moments. If you listen close enough, I send imperfect emails. I post imperfect content because you know what? It gets done, it still helps people, and my business keeps moving forward because I'm not stuck in that perfectionism cycle. This is actually one of the core principles that I teach inside the Growth Collective, my dollar a day support system where we focus on progress over perfection and getting real results in your business. Here's what I want you to remember today. Perfectionism productivity is an oxymoron. You can be a perfectionist or you can be productive. It's pretty hard to be both. So your challenge this week is to do one imperfect thing, just one is all I'm asking. One post or one email or one task that you've been putting off because it isn't quite right yet. Just get it done and get it out in the world because progress over perfection isn't just a mindset, it is a business strategy. If you're ready to break the overwhelm cycle with frameworks just like this, you can find and follow me on Instagram at exclusively Cindy, where I constantly share daily reality checks for overwhelmed entrepreneurs. And remember when everything feels like it needs to be perfect reality, check what actually matters Most of the time. Done beats perfect every single time you've got this.

Thanks for spending these few minutes with me today. Remember, overwhelm isn't permanent. It's simply your brain's way of saying pause and take a little reality check. If this was helpful, you'll love my weekly email tips where I share the systems that keep me and hundreds of other entrepreneurs on Track Link in the show notes. If you got value in today's episode, please share it with another entrepreneur who needs that reminder. If you're loving the show, I'd be so grateful if you could leave me a quick review. It helps other overwhelmed entrepreneurs find us. Make sure you hit subscribe so you never miss your weekly dose of clarity. For more resources and to connect with me, visit exclusively cindy.com. Until next time, remember you've got this.