Okay, you have talent. But do you know what the biggest obstacle to success is?

“Perfection is the enemy of progress." - Winston Churchill.

I am a person who imagines a lot, I love to wander observing how something could become.

If I look back on many moments in my life, I can say that I have always imagined perfection. The perfect company. The perfect family. The perfect plan.

The perfect Word template!

Over time I realized how perfection can be the greatest enemy to really achieve great things.

Here are 3 lessons I learned.

Perfectionism blocks action

People are broken: they love to make big plans, but they don't move around waiting for the perfect plan.

!! Spoiler: the plan will never be perfect !!

A mentor of mine told me that I saw the world in black and white. "Well, that's it!" I said to myself. "I'm an engineer: the world is divided between perfect things and unfinished things!"

So, I continually procrastinated waiting for the perfect moment, never really starting or ending.

Perfectionism blocks learning

When we aim for perfection before trying, we risk "spending the whole budget" on something that won't work.

I remember many great projects with many flashes in the meeting room and few in the moment of action.

Real success is achieved by trying and trying again. The market itself builds the outstanding product.

“The person who fails the most, wins.” - Seth Godin.

Perfectionism creates obstacles between people

As a group, when we discuss perfect ideas, any conflicting opinion becomes a personal attack.

Once, I tried several times to convince a customer of our perfect piano to solve a problem for him. Discuss it as a team for several days. Who knows if we were right: when people start discussing perfect plans, they don't listen to each other. And the plans are not being realized.

To build perfect things, it is better to start with small actions and leverage to continue digging, in a humble way.