Perfectionism is just procrastination in disguise.
If you’re waiting for absolute certainty before deciding, you’re not playing to win — you’re playing not to lose. That’s a detrimental mindset if you’re serious about growth.
Imagine you’re debating whether to hire an additional attorney for your firm, for example. You go back and forth, overanalyzing every possible outcome. Three months later, you finally make the call, and begin the search.
It’s going to take you another 60 to 90 days to find the right candidate. After accepting your offer, the candidate will likely need to give a two-to-four-week notice to their old firm before starting with yours. Onboarding and training could take another 30 to 60 days before they’re fully up to speed.
It’ll take you six, nine, or even twelve months to start seeing the results of your decision. But because it took you about three months of deliberating to achieve a false sense of security before you decided to hire someone, you’ll have pushed that whole process even further back.
This is the trap so many business owners fall into. They think waiting longer will give them a better answer. But in reality, all it does is slow down their progress.
If you want to win, you have to be decisive. You have to know when you have enough information to move forward, make the call, and course-correct as needed.
The most successful organizations don’t wait for perfect conditions. They don’t operate under the illusion that every decision must be foolproof. Instead, they move fast, make mistakes, and adjust along the way.
Large companies, on the other hand, often get stuck in endless deliberation. Making a single decision can feel like turning a cruise ship. It takes forever, and by the time they move, the opportunity may be gone. Meanwhile, smaller firms have the advantage of being more agile. They can pivot quickly, test different approaches, and make 10 mistakes before the larger company even makes its first move.
Sure, they can make more mistakes, but while the bigger company is still stuck in the “analysis paralysis,” the smaller company already knows what works and what doesn’t. That eleventh move it makes will be the thing that helps them come out on top.
No one succeeds without failing. If you’re only making safe bets, you’re not stretching yourself. You’re not learning. And you’re not growing.
The key is to fail fast and fail forward. The faster you make decisions, the quicker you get feedback. The quicker you get feedback, the sooner you can adjust and improve. The more you improve, the greater your long-term success.
This applies to everything in your business, from hiring to marketing, pricing, or operations.
So stop waiting. Stop overthinking. Stop trying to eliminate every ounce of risk before you act. You either make a decision yourself or life makes one for you. So take back the control, move forward, and adapt as needed.
That’s the only way you will grow.
