Are you waiting for all lights to be green before you start that important project, accomplish that goal, or make that life-changing decision you have been postponing for the longest time?

I am not referring to wanting to be cautious and acting in a responsible manner before embarking on a new venture. Rather, I am referring to being a perfectionist, which leads you to overanalyze things. This is extremely important because, when you do that, the following things happen:

• You get stuck. You don’t take action until everything is “perfect.”
• Your goals and dreams don’t get accomplished.
• You don’t truly enjoy your accomplishments. It’s never enough.
• It is easy for you to find fault in you and others.
• You don’t enjoy the presence of a loved one until he/she gets his/her act together.
• You deprive yourself of the learnings by “making mistakes” because your focus is on the pain rather than how you can grow from them.

As you can see, this might be killing your productivity and who you can become in the process … silently!

Being a perfectionist has its merits, though. This shows you are someone who wants to do things well and that you put a lot of effort into doing it right. Believe me, if I need brain surgery, I want the surgeon to be a perfectionist.

If you are a highly visual person, you might want to see all the towels perfectly aligned and color-coded in your linen closet, and you might want to be impeccably dressed … you want to look perfect. That’s cool.

My focus on this article is about the areas where being a perfectionist might be leading you to “Paralysis by Analysis,” affecting your productivity and your accomplishments.

If this describes you, then consider the following:

1. Choose an area where being a perfectionist and over-analyzing things are causing a project or a goal to not get started or to be stuck.
2. What price are you paying for not having this project or goal completed or started? What don’t you have in your life or business that having completed this goal or project would have given you?
3. What underlying beliefs or rules are you holding that might cause you to over-analyze before you start? Beliefs like:
    
   • I am not good enough to finish this project.
   • What I do will never be enough.
   • I don’t have what it takes.
   • “They” will never like it.
   • Things have to be perfect before I start.

1. Neutralize your beliefs with some of these new ones:
    
   • Progress is more important than perfection.
   • It doesn’t have to be perfect to get started, but to be perfect, it must get started.
   • There are no mistakes, only feedback.
   • Many things I need for my journey will be revealed ONLY once I get started.
   • I don’t have to do it alone. I can get help.
   • I don’t have to do it all at once.
   • In the beginning, it might be hard. The sooner I start, the faster I will get it done.
   • “Done” is better than perfect.
   • My future is a reflection of what I do today. I take action.
   • I don’t allow “perfect” to be the enemy of the “good.”

As you have probably heard, “Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment.” When you over-analyze, you are depriving yourself of the experiences of taking action and developing good judgment for future actions.

Taking actions brings results. If you like the results, celebrate. If you don’t like the results, take the learnings and the wisdom they gave you and move on. If not, you will have to repeat the lesson.

Define your goal, objectively analyze what is necessary, and get it started. You will notice the growth on two tracks: the accomplishment (your goal) and the transformation (who you become in the process).

If it is not now, then when? If it is not here, then where? And if not YOU, for God’s sake, then WHO?

Do you have a question or a topic suggestion you would like for me to cover in this column about personal development or productivity? I would love to hear from you. Send me an email: Edward@EdwardRodriguez.com.

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Edward A. Rodriguez is a coach, co-author and transformational trainer. He is founder and CEO of Better Graphics (a promotional products company) and In-Powerment! Center (an international training company for productivity and personal development). He is an NLP, HNLP, and neuro-strategy certified trainer. He has many certifications as a life and executive coach, serving clients in different countries. Edward has developed internationally known transformational programs and has co-authored books like La Biblia de la Motivación (The Bible About Motivation) and Empowered, which was co-written with other authors such as Wayne W. Dyer, John Assaraf (from the movie The Secret), Brian Tracy, etc. For more information, call 1-888-2-IN-POWER or write to info@EdwardRodriguez.com.