Too many people are crippled by whether they’re making the right hire, choosing the right job, or picking the right strategy.
So many people use being a “perfectionist” as an excuse to procrastinate.
Instead of trying to make perfect decisions, create more opportunities
1. The “Right” Decision Is Always The Fastest Decision
You never really know whether you’re making the right move or not.
I find a tremendous amount of freedom in knowing this. You’ll never know the alternative of whatever choice you make, so there’s no reason to overthink.
Ultimately, what matters most is speed. Speed trumps everything.
In my day-to-day, I’m moving unbelievably fast. I’m quick with my clients. I’m quick with hiring. I’m quick with saying “yes” to new ideas. I’m quick with testing new things with my personal brand and my business.
Too many people are crippled by whether they’re making the right hire, choosing the right job, or picking the right strategy.
My advice to those people?
Instead of trying to make perfect decisions, create more opportunities.
Create more 10-15 minute meetings to open the gateway to new relationships. Run more marketing tests to give you the opportunity to find a strategy that works. Create the “volume” you need to give you a better shot at finding those opportunities that will lead to success and happiness instead of debating what’s going to work.
Instead of trying to make perfect decisions, create more opportunities.CLICK TO TWEET
2. “Debating” Is Often An Insecurity In Disguise
So many people use being a “perfectionist” as an excuse to procrastinate.
They have an “all or nothing” mentality and want to make sure it’s done “right” and thought through before they make any moves.
If you’re debating between several different options, the answer is pretty simple:
Just pick one.
If several options seem good, try them all. I’m good at a lot of things — investing, building businesses, building brand, dealing with people, etc — so I do it all.
But for a lot of people, the problem goes much deeper.
People are “perfectionists” because they’re insecure. A lot of times, they’re not sure if they’re actually good at the thing they say they’re good at. Maybe they’re afraid of other people’s judgement or they’re worried about how they’ll judge themselves.
This is the real reason most people procrastinate. They waste time or aren’t motivated because of a deep lack of self-esteem, insecurity, and fear of other people’s opinions. Most of these people don’t need another productivity tactic.
They need to build up their mental strength.
3. Have Your “Burger” So You Can Taste “Side Dishes”
There has never been a time in my life when I haven’t had one “main” project. I’ve never had a day when I didn’t have something that made up 80% of what I do.
In my 20s, my burger was Wine Library. Then, it was investing and VaynerMedia. Then, I added my personal brand. These pillars support me financially and are the gateway to wealth creation. That way, when I make decisions that don’t work out, I’m able to easily absorb the loss. It’s never devastating to me.
I always have other things going on.
Set up “pillars” in your career that you can rely on. For you, it might be a full time job while you work on different side hustles. If you’re young, it might just be trying out different jobs, internships, or traveling to figure out what you like. It might be a core revenue stream for your business while you try out other ones.
Too many people have a lot of side dishes, but no burger. Because of that, a lot of them aren’t in a place mentally where they can absorb the losses that come from bad decisions, which is why they get slow.
When you have a core pillar that supports you financially, you’re more willing to micro-fail when it comes to trying other things. Ultimately, that means you go faster.
4. Be Okay With Making Mistakes When Making Decisions
I get so many things wrong.
I passed on Uber twice in the angel round because I bought a new apartment. If I had just stayed in my original apartment for one more year (instead of buying a new one), I would’ve probably made that investment, and today I would have an extra $400 million.
That was a loss.
I’m also constantly fixing and improving VaynerMedia from mistakes I made in the previous year.
But I’m okay with losing for two reasons:
First of all, I don’t care what you think about my loss. My L is my L. It has nothing to do with you.
You’re more than welcome to leave a comment and disrespect me when I make a mistake, but the truth is, I don’t care about what you think. I don’t value your opinion over my own because you don’t have full context.
Second, I know my intent is in the right place.
I’m obsessed with intent. It’s the “north star” of every decision I make. As long as my intention is in the right place, I know I’m a good guy. And along as my intent is in the right place, I’ve won.
I implore you all to get really self-aware about why you procrastinate… why you have a hard time putting in the work… and why you’re not executing faster. In a lot of cases, it goes deeper than laziness.
Once you figure that out, you’re already halfway home
[This post by Gary Vaynerchuk first appeared on the official website and has been reproduced with permission.]
