Welcome to the Elevated Edit podcast.

I'm your host, Blakely Ramsey, and the goal of this podcast is to discuss all things personal development, wellness, and the art of editing your life in an elevated way.

From mastering morning routines to mastering your mindset, we're going to sift through the noise and empower you to take elevated action.

Make sure you catch the show notes for all the details.

Enjoy the show.

Hello and welcome back to the Elevated Edit podcast.

Y'all know I love a good, short and sweet episode.

I think they just really pack a punch with a ton of tangible tips and takeaways in a short amount of time.

And today we're going to talk about something that I personally struggle with, and I have a feeling you probably struggle with it at times, too, and that is the fact that done is better than perfect.

So many of us, myself included, claim that perfectionism is just who we are.

I'm a perfectionist.

Oh, well, I'll.

I'll do.

I'll put that out when I've got the certificate or I'll put that out when I've, you know, done whatever.

Like all the things, perfectionism is a silent dream killer.

If we keep living in the thought of, oh, well, I just.

I can't do it until it's perfect, or I can't put it out there until it's perfect.

We are fooling ourselves because perfectionism is just procrastination in disguise.

Perfectionism is procrastination wrapped with a cute little bow on it and some glitter.

And it.

It makes.

It sounds good.

It sounds pretty.

Well, I'm a perfectionist.

You know, it just sounds good.

It's like, I'm a perfectionist, but.

But truly, it's just procrastination disguise.

We're telling ourselves that we're perfecting something, but really we're delaying progress out of fear or hesitation or whatever it is.

For me, it's typically fear.

I'm scared I'm going to fail.

I'm scared people are going to make fun of me.

I'm scared I'm going to look stupid.

Those are typically the three, I think, that keep me from taking action.

Typically.

And high achievers don't wait for perfect conditions.

They execute, they iterate, and they refine as they go.

They execute and mess up, they iterate, they learn from it, and then they refine and they move on.

And I'll be super honest, there have been.

I have really had to lean into this the last couple of months because I.

I work very well under pressure, and so.

And I know that about myself.

And so I intentionally put myself in a very, very pressured corner, emotionally and financially.

And yeah, I guess those are the two.

I intentionally put myself in a very tight position.

I'll just put it like that.

And because I know I work well under pressure and I know that if I'm under pressure, I typically am able to.

I'm typically able to overcome my perfectionism a lot more than if I'm just like, oh, I can do that whenever.

Because that for me is when the perfectionism starts to kick in.

If I don't have a timeline or a deadline, I'm like, I'll do that later.

I'll do that whenever.

A great example of procrastination perfectionism for me recently is I've gotten myself in a pickle.

Not a bad pickle, it's a fixable pickle, but it was also a preventable pickle.

So I am, I am very well aware of my strengths.

I am excellent at writing.

I love speaking, I love reading.

But when it comes to math, it like, it's like my brain just like turns off.

Like there's just nothing there.

Numbers and talking about numbers stress me out.

Like, I.

It's awful.

It stresses me out so bad.

And this company that I am launching is the real deal.

Like, I think at first it was like a little hobby, so it wasn't that stressful.

But now, I mean, like, things are really happening.

I'm like, oh, I have to be a grown up.

This is.

Okay, cool.

And I was supposed to schedule a call with my CPA like a month ago.

And I didn't because I don't want to talk about numbers.

I don't want to talk about numbers.

And he's great.

He taught, like, he's very calm, he's very knowledgeable.

He talks to me like a five year old, which I've specifically asked him to.

Like, I'm like, you're not gonna be condescending if you talk to me like I'm five.

Like, you could even draw pictures.

And that would help.

Seriously, like, because I do want to understand it.

But numbers, like I said, I mean, it just makes my brain just shut off.

So I've been trying to get.

I'm supposed to schedule this call, supposed to schedule this call.

And I was telling myself, oh, I need to wait until this and this and this are set up, or I need to wait until this and this and this is done.

I wanted to make sure this is, this is flowing and this looks good.

And you know, finally he texted me.

He Was like, are we going to get on this call together or not?

And I was like, well, actually, I need to do.

He said, no, I'll talk to you tomorrow at 11.

And, you know, we got on the phone and because I delayed talking to him because I procrastinated, I have now had to push back the launch of my company because there are certain things that we are having to file that takes, you know, 10ish business days.

But now I've gotten us into a situation where because I was convincing myself that I was making everything perfect, I have now procrastinated to the detriment of my launch.

So the new launch, I know I told y'all, it's February 3rd.

It is February 24th.

I would love to launch it today, but I also don't want to get in trouble with irs.

So we're gonna wait until everything is in place.

And we have checked off all the boxes on the back end before we launch.

So that way we have a really clear system and everything flows smoothly.

And hopefully, because so much work has been done on the forefront, the back end is set up to run very, very smoothly.

You all know I love systems.

Systems save time, save energy, save money.

And the way that I have this backend set up, Chef's Kiss, it is fantastic.

But that is like a perfect example of I was convincing myself that I was being a perfectionist and I just wanted everything to, to look great.

But really, I was procrastinating and I procrastinated to the detriment.

You know, thankfully, I don't have a ton of employees.

I've got, you know, my virtual assistant, which, you know, they get, they're, they're paid well.

But, you know, I'm fortunate that I didn't have a team that was waiting on a company launch because that would have fallen on me because I was sitting here over here like, oh, I'm.

I'm a little miss perfectionist.

No, you're procrastinating.

I needed to execute, iterate, and refine, and that's what I'm planning on doing.

I actually have in my trello board for my launch, I've got a post launch strategy, and in that post launch, I've got review and revise.

I am going to take feedback.

I want all the feedback.

I want good feedback, I want negative feedback.

I've already got it penciled in because let me tell you, this launch is great.

I've put a lot of heart into it, a lot of energy, a lot of thought, a lot of creativity.

But there's still some things that I'm like, I wish that looked better or I don't know if that is, I don't know if that messaging is going to be great.

I don't know if that ad is going to work great.

But I'm just, I can't know until I get feedback.

And so I literally have that in my post.

Launch strategy is take feedback, revise, and move forward.

And I know it's easier said than done, but if you, if there's something that you are wanting to take action on right now that you're needing to take action on, that, like literally, you know, you need to get it done.

Don't do what I did.

Take a lesson from someone who messed something up.

And don't, you know, convince yourself that you're being a perfectionist, you're being a procrastinator.

And the beautiful thing about taking action is that clarity comes from action.

Clarity doesn't come from overthinking, sitting around and thinking of all the amazing things that you can do.

You come, you get clarity by doing.

Action creates momentum and it creates feedback.

And that feedback, feedback is how you grow and how you learn and how you get better.

And I was talking to someone the other day and they said your first draft is supposed to be terrible.

If it's not terrible, you probably didn't put enough effort into it.

Your first draft is supposed to be like the, the worst that you ever put out.

And it's such an important first step because then you can embrace iteration, you can embrace revision, you can embrace growth.

Like, you become the person that you're meant to be and you become the person who can run the successful business, accomplish the big goal, do the big things.

You become that person through all of the failures and the mess ups and the iterations.

So just keep that in mind that your first draft is not going to look good.

Your first post is not going to be great, your first reel is not going to be wonderful, your first whatever is not going to be great.

Like, I already know.

I'm like, this launch, I'm really proud of it.

Genuinely, truly, I'm so proud of it.

But this is going to be my worst launch ever.

And like, that's kind of exciting.

I'm like, I'm ready to get this launch out of the way and I'm ready to sit down and think of all the things I did wrong and all the things I did right.

I want to celebrate my micro wins too, but I'm ready to like, sit down and like look at Everything I did wrong and fix it so that the next launch is even better.

I'm excited to mess up.

I'm excited for failure.

I'm trying to rewire my brain to tell myself, like, to teach myself to be excited about failure because that means that I learned something.

I now have feedback that I can move forward and do it better the next time and I'll probably fail a little bit then do it better the next time.

Something I have been trying to practice, and it truly has been helping a lot, is the 80% rule.

Instead of waiting for something to be 100% perfect, aim for 80% of excellence and then release it.

Perfectionist.

Stay stuck while action takers win by showing up consistently.

I have had to remind myself of this every single day.

I don't have to give 100% at everything.

80% excellence is just fine.

And I'll give you a little disclaimer before you go and practice this out in the wild.

You will make some people upset with this.

If people are used to you giving a hundred percent and you start giving 80%, it's really going to make some people really upset.

And I have just had to be okay with it.

I have to give them grace because I, I am different than I was even a few months ago.

And I am changing and my priorities are changing and they're not used to it yet.

And so I have to give them grace on that.

But I also have to stand in my convictions and know that I am making choices for a reason.

And it's a very well thought out reason.

And it is a.

It is to embrace and chase my mission and my vision.

And I know it's going to be so good.

And so if someone is upset or someone is giving me resistance or pushback, I go, blakely, give them grace.

They are just doing the best that they can.

But you need to do the best that you can.

And I have just had to say often here lately, that's the best I've got for you.

I.

I could probably come up with a better phrase, but that has been my go to.

That's the best I got for you.

80% is just fine.

80% excellence and release.

That one is way easier said than dimensions.

So don't be like cursing me in your mind and be like, blakely doesn't know what she's talking about.

I get it.

It's not fun.

People get mad.

People get upset and it's okay.

They can get mad and they can get upset.

You know what your mission is.

You know what your vision is you know what your dream is, you know what has been placed on your heart and only you can know that.

So only you are going to be like, okay, I am the one responsible for making sure this happens.

I'm the one making sure that I hit this goal, that I start the new friendship, that I go on the trip, that I start the company, whatever it is.

Like you're the only person that can make it happen.

So just keep reminding yourself that I've got one action item for you today.

I want you to think of one thing that you've been holding off on because it's not perfect yet, and I want you to take one step of messy action today, whatever it is.

If you need to set up an email address, I want you to set the email address up.

If you need to make a phone call, make the phone call.

If you need to research prices, research prices.

If you need to clean out your closet, order a she organizer, whatever it is that you have been procrastinating on, I want you to take one tiny piece action today.

Just a little one.

Just the tiny first step.

You will probably be so excited about that first step.

It will create more momentum.

But don't.

Don't put pressure on yourself to do anything else.

Just do one tiny thing today and then maybe in two or three days you do one more tiny thing and then in two or three days you do one more tiny thing and then at the end of the month you've probably done like 10 tiny things.

And how cool is that?

You made progress.

That's a big deal.

Be excited.

So yeah, that's all I got for you.

I hope that this was helpful and I hope that you got just even if you didn't get a ton of tangible information, I hope maybe you got a little inspiration to take action on something that you have been delaying, whatever that is.

Hope you have a great rest of your day and I will see you all in the next episode.

Thank you for tuning in to the Elevated Edit podcast.

I hope you found today's episode inspired, inspiring and full of actionable tips.

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Keep growing, glowing and elevating your life.

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