I’m betting that each and every one of you have, at one time or another, struggled with fear of failure and perfectionism. I know this because most people struggle with it, and the vast majority of entrepreneurs struggle with it even more – and creative people are the entrepreneur type that will struggle the most.
So if you’re a creative entrepreneur – basically if you’re human, you’re very likely to have struggled with fear of failure and perfectionism.
These are really unhelpful rabbit holes that our brains go down as entrepreneurs and creative people, and so I want to address it because I work with makers every day and it’s something that comes up all the time . . . and it can really, really get in the way of you succeeding.
Now as I sat down to outline this article I felt like – sure, I could give you some tips and give you some good recommendations for books and personal development blogs to read. But there are already like at least a gazillion videos on YouTube to help you do that.
So I’m not going to do an article where I tell you a bunch of theoretical wisdom like “this is where perfectionism isn’t good in the eyes of Socrates.” Instead, I want to demonstrate to you why good enough is good enough by sharing some of my own experiences. .
So, ready? Let’s dive in.
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What I want to do today is look back a bit on things I did when I started Tizzit – and I’m gonna be honest, I’m going to be cringing a bit because back when I made these things I didn’t know much of what I do now!
But the fact is, if I hadn’t done these things – as cringy as I think they are right now when I’m looking back – I wouldn’t be where I am right now with my business . . . and the stuff that I’m doing right here today, I’ll probably cringe about in 10 years, because I will be older and wiser!
But I’m doing it and that’s what’s getting me to where I’m going to be in 10 years, so I don’t want to get stuck in fear and worry because it serves no purpose and will only slow down my progress.
For my first example I want to show you the first video that I recorded in my tiny little office 5 years ago. This example speaks more to the fear of failure, and you will see that I had a HUGE case of fear of failure when I made this video!
I still remember recording this video. I had sweaty palms and my heart was pounding like I was standing in front of an audience of 10,000 people (even though I was totally alone in my office!). I remember it was summer in Australia – it was really hot – and I was sweating buckets because I was soooo stressed.
I didn’t know that I had to look at the actual camera lens so I’m looking a bit sideways, and I kept re-recording because I couldn’t remember what I was saying and finish my sentence. I was worried about my French accent because it was stronger than it is now (if you can believe that!), and I just was so scared that I was going to publish this video and it was going to have zero views . . . plus I pictured my friends and family finding it and I convinced myself it was going to be horrible.
A lot of the fear I was experiencing was because I knew that it wasn’t perfect. I was looking at what other people were doing on YouTube, and looking at the quality of the videos that entrepreneurs I was following were publishing. And I was comparing those videos to my little video that I was filming on a webcam in my home office . . . . and that made me feel a bit terrified and sick inside.
But I published my video because I knew it was good enough – not perfect, not stunning and amazing, but it was good enough. I just had to push past that fear that I was going to fail and that it wasn’t a perfect video, and I had to trust that I was going to get better slowly but surely.
And now, looking back, I’ll admit I still cringe a bit when I watch that video. To be honest I can’t really even watch it. And I was SO terrified to post it.
But guess what? That video has racked up at least 47 THOUSAND views, and it’s a video that people still love to watch today. It literally started my journey to having (at the time of this recording) over 33,000 subscribers on YouTube. Think what would have happened (and what wouldn’t have been possible!) if I had listened to my fears and not published it.
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By the way, if you’re not one of those 33,000 people you should totally subscribe and come see the many many helpful videos I have on my Youtube channel, just hit that subscribe button and make sure to click the notification bell so you get notified when I upload new videos!
Next, let’s look at an example that speaks more to perfectionism – I’m going to show you the very first website that I built for Tizzit. Now, contrary to the video, which you know I really wasn’t proud of but pushed myself to publish it anyway, I was pretty darn proud of this website – like I wanted the WORLD to visit it!
I was literally visiting my own website every day – who does that?! But that’s how proud I was of this thing, I just had so much fun creating it. I had studied graphic design in school, had done design work for clients, and I was really enjoying the design process. I thought the colors were great, the font was clever and catchy, the pages were fun and interesting – it turned out JUST how I wanted and I was so damn proud of that website!
But — if I had to do a review of this website now, . . . there are a bunch of things that I would change! There are heaps of things that I see could have been better – the copy was crap, the marketing angles weren’t good, the design honestly wasn’t even really that great.
But here’s the thing, and here’s why I’m showing you this now. The world – and you – are by definition constantly changing and evolving. The person you were a minute ago is gone; you have had new ideas and thoughts since the beginning of this article that you didn’t have before you read it, right?
We’re all constantly learning, constantly improving, constantly changing. And so the idea that something can be perfect just doesn’t exist!
But . . . even if it did exist, there still won’t be such a thing as a perfect design for your products, a perfect caption for your Instagram post, or a perfect anything – because in the next moment that definition of perfection will already have changed because you’ve learned something that has made you better . . . so you are constantly chasing your tail.
So whatever you’re working on right now, I can promise you that in 5 years, 10 years – heck even in TWO years, you’re gonna look back and think “Oh, that wasn’t really good.” Because you’ll be better than where you are now . . . And so that’s why you have to stop at “good enough.” Because if not, you’re never going to stop chasing your tail with this thing.
So today I tried to give you a bit more personal take on this topic that I see covered on Youtube a million times and then some – and I apologize to those of you who were hoping I would give them calming chants and confidence meditations and quote Socrates wisdom for you!
But I sincerely hope that the next time you are getting ready to publish something or post something and you feel the fear of failure creeping into your chest, you will hear me in your ear cheering you on and reminding you that what you have done is good enough and will make a difference in your business that you will be able to see when your future self looks back at it!
I also want to invite you to join us over at Tizzit HQ.
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Tizzit HQ is an amazing community where we have courses that give you step-by-step guidance for creating and running a successful handmade business, and endless amounts of support and encouragement to get you past your fear of failure and that need you may have to do things perfectly or not at all.
I think you will be amazed at how much faster you can grow your business when you have the guidance and resources that make sure that the work you do will pay off – so come and check us out!
Thanks for reading, be sure to check out Tizzit HQ, and until next time, aurevoir!
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This personal insight was much more valuable than theoretical knowledge and quotes about fear of failure.
We’re glad that you found this useful, Kate!