Perfect is the enemy of Progress

Tennis is one of my favorite hobbies. I enjoy tapping into my competitive spirit and challenging myself physically. However, tennis isn’t just a physical challenge; it’s also a mental one. The ball travels fast, and you’re forced to think quickly about your next action.?

According to coach Tomaz Mencinger , you have to make approximately 1,000 decisions in a typical tennis match. While you might make some savvy choices and impressive moves, not all 1,000 decisions will be your best! You have to expect some mistakes and missed balls. It’s all part of the game.

While there are plenty of intense, action-packed moments, there’s also a lot of “dead” time on the court. When you’re not actively hitting the ball, it can be easy to get distracted and ruminate over your mistakes. However, if you allow negativity to steal your focus, you’re likely to lose the whole match.?

We all struggle with negative thoughts from time to time. One of the most common struggles is that of perfectionism. Underneath that drive for perfection is really a fear of failure.

According to mental performance coach and talent advisor Briley Casanova ,

“In the case of sports, and life in general, we all know perfection is not always a worthy endeavor. Instead of overthinking, overtrying, and burning yourself out to succeed, remember that you can pursue excellence—not perfection—and still succeed. Trust your training, follow the process, and the results will come.”

Tennis helps me develop mental toughness and resilience. I have to acknowledge my mistakes, learn from them, and keep moving. As a result, I’m a more creative and efficient problem solver both on and off the court.?

For example, in a double tennis match, my coach Rob Howard teaches us the importance of being on the right place. Right place means? 80 percent of the court is covered. In other words, you need to let go of that 20% to have more chances to win! My instinct always was to stay back and try to cover it all, but that usually will get you to lose the match.?

This translates easily to life off the court. If you try to be perfect, you’ll never be on time. It’s better to deliver excellence at the right moment than wait for perfection and miss the moment entirely. If you wait, someone else (your competition) will beat you to it and steal your opportunity! I’ve seen this happen repeatedly over my 20+ years of leadership in business.?

While people of all genders and ages can struggle with perfectionism, research shows it is prevalent among women and millennials . There could be many contributing factors, such as imposter syndrome, sexism, ageism, systemic inequality in the workplace, or cultural conditioning. Whatever the reason, perfectionism can lead to harmful behaviors and mindsets that become toxic to our careers and mental health.?

For example, I’ve seen employees procrastinate, miss a deadline, or hesitate to launch a new offering because “it’s not ready.” I’ve found it helpful to remind them that there’s a difference between ready and perfect; we can always improve the product or program with a version update. That’s the beauty of working in tech—people have come to expect new versions of your software or product, and that idea translates into business processes and programs, as well.

To help my teams grasp this idea, I like to remind them of Winston Churchill’s famous quote, “perfect is the enemy of progress.” Anyone who has worked with me is probably chuckling as they read those words because they can hear me saying them in my Argentinan accent. I’ve been repeating this mantra to my teams for over twenty years!

In tennis and in life, don’t wait for the perfect shot—just hit the ball at the right moment! Sure, you might miss the shot or hit it poorly. In fact, at some point, I guarantee that you will! Failure is part of the game; it’s how we learn and improve.?

When you do make mistakes, see them for what they are—stepping stones to success. There’s no need to punish yourself. To overcome perfectionism, you need to forgive yourself, take accountability for your mistakes, learn from them, and keep progressing.

Embrace failure as a necessary part of your growth. Perfect is the enemy of progress!

Carola Cazenave is a global senior executive in the IT market who loves learning, living, and leading in a collaborative multicultural environment. She is passionate about entrepreneurship and helping businesses as they move to the next stage of development and growth into large corporations through expansion, mergers and acquisitions, and ecosystem development.?

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