Episode 29
Embracing Imperfect Action: The Key to Progress and Growth in Your Business
Episode Summary
Welcome to another episode of A Whole Lot of Shift, where we're diving into the Visibility Series! In Part 1, we're tackling the topic of embracing imperfect action. Host Jen Ingram discusses the common struggle of perfection paralysis and how it can hinder our progress in both business and life. She challenges listeners to let go of perfection and take imperfect action instead. By launching our ideas before they're perfect, we gain valuable feedback and have the opportunity to pivot and adjust as we go. Join us as we explore the power of embracing imperfection and making shift happen on our own terms. Let's get started!
About the Host:
Jen is a Dream Catalyst and Business Mentor saving hustling female solopreneurs from the chains of corporate America. Her passion lies in helping women through their self awakening so they can finally break free, turn their side hustle into the business of their dreams, and live a life full of time, location and financial freedom.
Jen is a California girl at heart, now living out her dream in the Midwest, traveling, coaching female solopreneurs and sharing her own story of triumph and empowerment across speaking platforms. When she's not traveling, she enjoys spending time with her college aged son and her rescued Pit Bull.
After 20 years of various project manager and corporate trainer roles while juggling a wide array of side gigs, she has mastered the ability to help women see what they cannot see, believe they are meant for more and take aligned action to make it happen. With an MBA in Change Management, and a Health and Life Coach Certification from the Health Coach Institute, Jen is an expert at creating both the business process changes and the personal habit changes needed to finally Break UP with corporate and go all-in on your side hustle or long standing passion project.
Connect with Jen on Facebook or Instagram!
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jenelleingram/
Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/wholelottashift/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/midwestvalleygirl/
Free Gift: https://mailchi.mp/4f4ae02ebe45/beat-the-odds
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Transcript
the beautiful thing is that as you're creating and as you're taking that
Speaker:imperfect action, you get to quickly pivot and adjust whatever it is that you're
Speaker:creating to better suit the needs of both your client and you and your business.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:Because if you just spent ten hours creating one YouTube video or a reel, it
Speaker:took you three hours to create one reel, and what do you know, it didn't go viral.
Speaker:It got like, Two likes and nobody saw it, but you just spent like hours on that.
Speaker:Well, guess what?
Speaker:You get to pivot and you get to go, okay, well, I'm wanting to post
Speaker:three or four reels a week, and I can't spend two hours on each and
Speaker:every reel that I want to create.
Speaker:So it, it means I'm going to need to make an adjustment, right?
Speaker:Welcome to a whole lot of shift podcast, the podcast for multi passionate women
Speaker:with an entrepreneurial spirit, where we provide inspiration, motivation, and
Speaker:education to help you shift away from all the shoulds and supposed to's to what's
Speaker:truly possible for you in your business and your life, all on your own terms.
Speaker:You ready, girl, let's make shift happen.
Speaker:hello and welcome to another episode of a whole lot of shift.
Speaker:This week we've been talking about imperfect action.
Speaker:And so today I'm going to be taking a deeper dive into what exactly that means.
Speaker:And I'm super excited to bring this as a copy chat into the
Speaker:whole lot of shift Facebook group.
Speaker:So we started off our week in the Monday mindset, talking
Speaker:about taking imperfect action.
Speaker:So what we talked about was perfection is really just the enemy of progress, right?
Speaker:Done is better than perfect.
Speaker:I think that's where I left us off on Monday's note.
Speaker:And so I asked each of you, as a little bit of a challenge for yourself, to
Speaker:go out and just take some imperfect action, because at the end of the
Speaker:day, done is better than perfect.
Speaker:So we're going to take a little bit of a deeper dive and really dig into that.
Speaker:So I want to just kind of ask some of you, I know I am guilty of this and
Speaker:I'm going to go ahead and guess that I know a little something about you too.
Speaker:And I'm going to go ahead and guess that what.
Speaker:I'm about to ask you can probably raise your hand to how many of you have
Speaker:ever gotten completely wrapped up in that perfection paralysis where you
Speaker:just want whatever it is that you're creating or working on to be perfect.
Speaker:You want it to happen at the perfect time.
Speaker:You want it to look perfect.
Speaker:You want to say the perfect thing.
Speaker:You want what you're wearing to be perfect.
Speaker:You want to look.
Speaker:Perfect, right?
Speaker:You literally want every single star in the universe to align it just the
Speaker:right moment in just the right way because you want to drop whatever
Speaker:it is absolutely perfectly, right?
Speaker:How many of you could raise your hand to that?
Speaker:I'm going to go ahead and guess that several of us can say,
Speaker:okay, I mean, maybe I haven't.
Speaker:I was asked for all the stars to be aligned at once, but I definitely
Speaker:got caught up whether that be creating a social media post and
Speaker:trying to get the wording just right.
Speaker:Oh, does this sound okay?
Speaker:What are, what's my grammar like?
Speaker:Is anybody going to judge me for this?
Speaker:Is this okay to post?
Speaker:Is this, is this okay to say?
Speaker:Am I sharing too much?
Speaker:Is the post too long?
Speaker:Just going through every piece of that.
Speaker:You're trying to create a new service to provide and you're trying to outline
Speaker:what the services will include and you kind of get all wrapped up in your head
Speaker:of, is this too much to incorporate?
Speaker:Is this not enough?
Speaker:Is my client going to feel like they're getting enough value?
Speaker:I'll be it all good questions to be asking of yourself.
Speaker:However, we tend to get wrapped up in this whole cycle of trying to get everything
Speaker:perfect before just taking action.
Speaker:So drop me a little hand or something in the comments in the group.
Speaker:If this is you and you can completely relate to in the past,
Speaker:or maybe it's something that you still do on a regular basis.
Speaker:Because I know I'm not alone, and I'm willing to bet a lot of you completely
Speaker:understand what I'm talking about.
Speaker:So, that perfection paralysis, I'm here to tell you guys, it is not uncommon at all.
Speaker:In fact, I can tell you that there are a lot of businesses That never really
Speaker:even make it off the ground because of that perfection paralysis because
Speaker:they're waiting for just the right time.
Speaker:Oh, I don't have enough money.
Speaker:I don't have enough time.
Speaker:I don't have I, I'm not enough.
Speaker:I don't have all the right credentials, right?
Speaker:Just looking for everything to be perfect before they do anything.
Speaker:And the business never gets off the ground.
Speaker:You are not alone.
Speaker:This is truly, truly common.
Speaker:The sad thing is that perfection paralysis and that fear of judgment
Speaker:and the fear of being seen or judged in a certain light, all that does
Speaker:is lead to missed opportunities.
Speaker:It leads to your business being stagnant and, or a business failure.
Speaker:Maybe your business never even makes it off the ground.
Speaker:So I want us to kind of.
Speaker:Change that narrative a little bit today as we're thinking about our businesses
Speaker:and taking some of that imperfect action.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:So let's talk about what would happen if you launched something imperfectly.
Speaker:Let's talk about it, right?
Speaker:So, you don't go out and you don't spend a ton of money and a ton of time and
Speaker:hours and hours and hours building and editing and perfecting every last thing.
Speaker:You just go ahead and you launch it and you get something out there.
Speaker:What happens?
Speaker:Well, immediate feedback, right?
Speaker:Somebody's going to see whatever it is that you just did, whatever it is that
Speaker:you just created that you made visible.
Speaker:And you're going to get to hear directly from those who
Speaker:have viewed it what they think.
Speaker:Hey, did I relate to this?
Speaker:Did this work?
Speaker:Is this something I would be interested in?
Speaker:And does this sound like you're, you're offering something really great.
Speaker:And Oh my gosh, I'm so glad to see you putting yourself out there.
Speaker:And who knows what they would say, but you're not going to
Speaker:know until you take that action.
Speaker:And by taking that action and just putting it out there, you get immediate
Speaker:feedback and that's what you want before you invest hundreds Thousands of
Speaker:dollars of hours of whatever else into trying to get something perfect, right?
Speaker:The other thing that it lets you do because you're getting Immediate constant
Speaker:feedback by just taking action, you're going to be able to quickly pivot and
Speaker:make adjustments as you go, right?
Speaker:This is in project management and not to like nerd you all out for a
Speaker:moment, but in project management, there's something called agile.
Speaker:And so as part of this whole methodology, in case you all do
Speaker:want to nerd out with me for just a moment on project management.
Speaker:It's the idea that you release in smaller segments more often so that your user
Speaker:gets to continue to experience and provide constant feedback and it allows you to
Speaker:adjust your whatever it is that you're launching, it allows you to pivot it
Speaker:or adjust it to your client's needs in real time as they're experiencing it.
Speaker:It's literally like the definition of taking perfectly imperfect action.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:So, when you think about that, you're getting constant feedback.
Speaker:It allows you to quickly pivot.
Speaker:Let's say you put out some content and you're realizing.
Speaker:It's like it's not being seen.
Speaker:And I don't mean that it's not being seen, I mean, you know, my aunt, of course,
Speaker:she liked it, and my sister, and my old roommate, and everybody just gave me all
Speaker:the hearts and all the things, just like they do, so I know people are seeing it.
Speaker:But like, mmm, it's like it's just not being seen.
Speaker:No worries.
Speaker:You get to pivot, you get to adjust.
Speaker:Now you get to reach out to somebody who maybe somebody you were hoping would
Speaker:see it and you get to say, Hey, would you mind taking a look at something?
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:You again, are going to get that feedback and you can pivot.
Speaker:You didn't just go out and spend.
Speaker:All of your money or all of your savings hoping Oh, this one thing's
Speaker:gonna work and the minute I launch it.
Speaker:It's just gonna take off And my first video is gonna go viral and millions
Speaker:and millions of people are gonna see it And so it's gotta be perfect and
Speaker:I gotta I got to have all this video equipment and all this editing software.
Speaker:And by the way, I'm using social media as my example, just because I think it's
Speaker:something that is at the forefront of so many businesses nowadays, because, you
Speaker:know, we're present both online and in person, but I think the online space,
Speaker:because it is so big and there's so much competition because anybody and everybody
Speaker:is online, that it's just kind of at the forefront of all of our minds, right?
Speaker:Visibility online is a little bit different, but the beautiful thing
Speaker:is that as you're creating and as you're taking that imperfect action,
Speaker:you get to quickly pivot and adjust whatever it is that you're creating
Speaker:to better suit the needs of both your client and you and your business.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:Because if you just spent hours upon hours, maybe you spent ten hours creating
Speaker:one YouTube video or a reel, it took you three hours to create one reel, and
Speaker:what do you know, it didn't go viral.
Speaker:It got like, Two likes and nobody saw it, but you just spent like hours on that.
Speaker:Well, guess what?
Speaker:You get to pivot and you get to go, okay, well, I'm wanting to post
Speaker:three or four reels a week, and I can't spend two hours on each and
Speaker:every reel that I want to create.
Speaker:So it, it means I'm going to need to make an adjustment, right?
Speaker:So it allows you to pivot.
Speaker:You're getting immediate feedback.
Speaker:It's allowing you to pivot.
Speaker:The other thing, of course, this is happening in real time.
Speaker:You're getting real time, real world, real world.
Speaker:I don't know why I couldn't spit that out.
Speaker:Learning experience, right?
Speaker:Because here's the deal.
Speaker:We all make mistakes.
Speaker:Nobody is perfect.
Speaker:You're not perfect.
Speaker:Your customers and your clients are not perfect.
Speaker:All these things that you're experiencing are just learning opportunities.
Speaker:And can we just talk about the fact that even if your clients or your customers
Speaker:did experience you making a mistake?
Speaker:All that makes you is more real, more authentic, more relatable, more likable.
Speaker:It just simply shows who you are and that you're a freaking human.
Speaker:There is no perfect human out there.
Speaker:So you trying to get something out in this world that is perfect is kind of bullshit.
Speaker:Because none of us are perfect.
Speaker:There is no perfect human out there.
Speaker:So you're really just fooling yourself.
Speaker:But this allows you to get that real world learning.
Speaker:The last piece I want to speak to you about is, as you're sitting here thinking,
Speaker:Okay, but I want it to look good.
Speaker:I'm going for, you know, I just want to make sure it's right.
Speaker:Let me just say this.
Speaker:Your desire for perfection is all in your eyes.
Speaker:Your idea of perfection is not my idea of perfection is not
Speaker:someone else's idea of perfection.
Speaker:It's not her idea of perfection or hers or hers or hers or any other woman out there.
Speaker:I guarantee you every single one of us has a very different definition
Speaker:of what perfection even is.
Speaker:So what is it that you're trying to live up to?
Speaker:If we all have a different idea of perfection, you're never going
Speaker:to be able to live up to it.
Speaker:There is no perfection.
Speaker:It's all in the eyes of the beholder.
Speaker:What is it?
Speaker:Beauties in the eyes of the beholder go ahead and throw
Speaker:perfection in there, right?
Speaker:How many times how many especially for you women out there?
Speaker:You are a mom and by the way, I for a for a human or for a fur baby
Speaker:I don't care because I think they both fall into the same category
Speaker:How many of you just look at those?
Speaker:Babies of yours, and you just, oh my God, like, they're just perfect.
Speaker:They're perfect.
Speaker:Like, they're, they're just, they're my angel.
Speaker:I mean, I, I can't think of too many people who don't look at others that they
Speaker:love and they go, They, they are perfect.
Speaker:And, and even though, let me say this, even though they may make mistakes,
Speaker:because I think as parents, we do recognize our, our kids make mistakes.
Speaker:We hope that they do.
Speaker:We hope that they do make mistakes so that they can learn from them.
Speaker:Those are the best lesson lessons learned because Lord knows they're
Speaker:not listening to us as parents.
Speaker:They're not going to listen to us as parents.
Speaker:So we want them to kind of learn their own lessons.
Speaker:So we kind of need them to make some mistakes, right?
Speaker:But even when they make mistakes, how many of you sit there and go, Oh
Speaker:my God, but they're just so perfect.
Speaker:They're just, I could just, Oh my God, can I just bottle them up?
Speaker:I mean, and again, this goes for whether you're a mom to a
Speaker:human or a mom to a fur baby.
Speaker:I, I don't care.
Speaker:I mean, there was times I would look at my dog and he's over there
Speaker:and he's snoring as loud as can be.
Speaker:Like I can barely sleep, but I'd.
Speaker:Turn over, like, one eye open, and I look at him and I'm like,
Speaker:Oh, but he's just so perfect.
Speaker:I, I can't wake him up because he's snoring in my ear.
Speaker:Ugh.
Speaker:Okay?
Speaker:You know that's you.
Speaker:I already know that's you.
Speaker:And if you're listening to this, that's you.
Speaker:Don't, don't lie about it.
Speaker:It's okay.
Speaker:Just, just go ahead.
Speaker:Just admit it.
Speaker:Embrace it.
Speaker:We've all been there.
Speaker:Okay?
Speaker:So if we know that, if we know that in each of us has this vision and we see
Speaker:these things that we perceive to be perfect, what then what is perfection?
Speaker:Because we all see it differently.
Speaker:I want, I want you guys to stop and think about that.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So when I'm talking about putting yourself out there and going ahead and
Speaker:taking that imperfect action, I want you to think about these four things
Speaker:that I've just been sharing number one.
Speaker:It allows you to get immediate feedback.
Speaker:You get to hear directly from your audience and you get
Speaker:to figure out in real time.
Speaker:Does this resonate?
Speaker:Is this working?
Speaker:Is this not going to work?
Speaker:Number two, it allows you to quickly pivot if necessary.
Speaker:And I'm going to talk about that on another day because I want to talk about
Speaker:consistency because that is important.
Speaker:But if necessary, it allows you to quickly pivot.
Speaker:You didn't just spend hundreds and hundreds of hours and dollars and,
Speaker:and whatever else trying to make.
Speaker:Something that you thought might be perfect only to
Speaker:learn that it it's maybe not.
Speaker:It's maybe not what what folks were needing or asking for.
Speaker:So it allows you to pivot the 3rd thing.
Speaker:It gives you that real time, real world.
Speaker:I just gave the example that we want our children to make mistakes
Speaker:so that they learn because we know nothing else we know they're not
Speaker:going to listen to their parents.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:And we want them to make mistakes because we want them to learn.
Speaker:Guess what?
Speaker:You too.
Speaker:You need to get that real world learning as well.
Speaker:And the only way you're going to do that is to go ahead and
Speaker:take that imperfect action.
Speaker:And number four, right.
Speaker:My dear perfection is in the eyes of the beholder and we all have a
Speaker:different version of perfection.
Speaker:So I hate to tell you it's never going to be perfect.
Speaker:You are perfect in someone else's eyes and I guarantee you if you could
Speaker:see yourself through their eyes.
Speaker:You would just be putting it all out there for the world to see
Speaker:your magic because you are perfect.
Speaker:You just don't believe it and it's because we all have these different
Speaker:versions and we can't see ourselves.
Speaker:Through the eyes of the people who are looking right at us
Speaker:going, Oh my God, she's amazing.
Speaker:So that's number four.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:So I want us to be thinking about embracing that imperfect action
Speaker:is going to give you a renewed sense of energy and purpose, right?
Speaker:Because each time you do take action, guess what happens?
Speaker:You take action and another action and another action and what does that do?
Speaker:Well, that starts to create a little bit of a momentum.
Speaker:And what does that momentum do?
Speaker:Well, that creates a little bit of confidence, doesn't it?
Speaker:Just going ahead and taking action.
Speaker:Alright, is it gonna feel great the first time?
Speaker:No, it's gonna feel like shit.
Speaker:I'm gonna tell you now.
Speaker:You're gonna look at it.
Speaker:You're going to, you're going to look at a post and you're going to
Speaker:write it and you're going to post it
Speaker:and you're that.
Speaker:It's not going to feel great.
Speaker:It's never going to feel great.
Speaker:When you get up in the morning and you go work out, do you feel great the moment you
Speaker:start running or working out or whatever?
Speaker:No, no, nobody does, right?
Speaker:It's not going to feel great, but I guarantee you that you keep doing
Speaker:it and you keep taking that action.
Speaker:You're going to get that renewed it.
Speaker:Energy, energy, energy in several ways, but energetically, you're
Speaker:going to feel better because you're going to gain momentum and it's going
Speaker:to help you build your confidence.
Speaker:And it's going to allow you to become more visible in your business.
Speaker:And I think that's ultimately what we're all after.
Speaker:So before I wrap up today, I'm going to challenge you again.
Speaker:And I know I already challenged you if you were, if you joined us for the
Speaker:Monday mindset in the, in the group here, but I'm going to challenge you again
Speaker:to just take one small step towards.
Speaker:An imperfect action.
Speaker:Just go ahead, if that's a post or a video, doing a reach out, doing an in
Speaker:person reach out, messaging somebody, sending a text message, Hey, I was
Speaker:just thinking of you, and, you know, I'd love your opinion on something.
Speaker:Something that I've been working on.
Speaker:Whatever it may be, I want you to go ahead and just take the imperfect action.
Speaker:What you perceive, As imperfect action, because by the way, I can
Speaker:guarantee you that anybody who's in your cheerleading squad, which you,
Speaker:you do have a cheerleading squad.
Speaker:If you're in the whole lot of shift Facebook group, I guarantee
Speaker:you, you got a whole community that's ready to cheer you on.
Speaker:So please, if you do take that imperfect action, which I know you will, because
Speaker:you're ambitious as fuck, go ahead and post about it in the group because you've
Speaker:got the biggest community of cheerleaders.
Speaker:Waiting to hear about it.
Speaker:Excited for you to be taking those steps towards your business.
Speaker:Excited for you to be making those dreams happen, but it's only going to happen when
Speaker:you start taking that imperfect action.
Speaker:So I challenge you to go ahead and put that out this week.
Speaker:Then come back to the group and share it because I would love,
Speaker:love, love to hear about it.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:Well, I hope that this was helpful to you all.
Speaker:I'm so excited to hear more about all the imperfect actions that I know you
Speaker:guys are motivated to take now because this truly is the biggest hurdle in
Speaker:you just making yourself more visible and putting yourself out there for your
Speaker:business is just going ahead and being.
Speaker:Perfectly imperfect.
Speaker:Alright, thank you everybody for joining and please be sure if you're
Speaker:not joining us for this coffee chat in the Facebook group what are you doing?
Speaker:Get in here, we would love to have you, but until next
Speaker:time, keep making shift happen.
Speaker:Bye!
Speaker:Hey shifters, thank you so much for tuning in to another
Speaker:episode of A Whole Lotta Shift.
Speaker:If you heard something today that inspired you or resonated with you,
Speaker:please head over to iTunes and leave us a review to help others as well.
Speaker:Your review helps me give as much motivation and
Speaker:inspiration as I possibly can.
Speaker:And don't forget, you can catch all the outtakes, bonuses, special live
Speaker:stream interviews, and much more over at A Whole Lotta Shift Facebook group.
