Perfectionism is a good thing, right?  Like what could possibly be wrong with getting things 100% right 100% of the time, besides the fact that it is virtually impossible?  I mean because it is, right? Virtually impossible and if you’re a perfectionist the way that I am a perfectionist you know that all it does is cause procrastination.  As long as you haven’t done the task it still has the potential to be great!! Once you’re doing it, if it’s not up to par (which it almost never is for the professional perfectionist) then you consider the project failed.  You can’t fail something you haven’t done yet and so perfectionism becomes the fear of failing.

Don’t allow perfectionism to become the catalyst for procrastination to the detriment of your business.  JUST START.

In the book, The Now Habit by Neil Fiore, he states that “In extreme cases of perfectionism, there is no distinction between judgment of one’s work and one’s sense of value as a person.” Perfectionism can trick you into believing you are not good enough to complete a task.  Don’t judge yourself by one task. Take each project step by step and as you finish those tasks and the feeling of accomplishment sets in, not only will you start to see how crazy it is to attribute your own value to one piece of work but you will also see all of the value in the work YOU do.

If comparison is the thief of joy, perfectionism is its partner in crime.  We tend to look at someone we admire and then compare the work they have done to what we are doing.  This makes us unable to see the beauty in our own journey and our own work. We see like 10% of everyone else’s life online, are you really gonna let that need to have your 100% seem as perfect as that 10% be the thing that holds you back?  

Here are some steps to overcoming perfectionism:

1. Why are you doing what you do?  Focus on THAT. Don’t look at how everyone else is doing it. Why are YOU doing on what you do?  Many of us are afraid of what we can’t see, afraid of the dark and prefer that which we know. So don’t have dark places in your business.  Shine light on every part of your business and know what your goals are and why you are trying to achieve them. This will help you to move forward and avoid fear.
2. Remember that perfection is subjective!! Lots of your favorite business owners see the mistakes and messes in their work but you don’t!  The things you know or have, someone else may not and they look to you to give it to them in whatever form that may be. They see the perfect that you can’t see.
3. Don’t focus on what you are missing, focus on what you have!  Look at what you have completed and use that as your catalyst to take the next step.  If you could complete that you can take on the next step. Setting goals will really help to take it one step at a time and a perfect project is a finished project.
4. Find people who support your initiatives and see the value in what you do and use them as your cheer squad to keep going and moving forward.

Entrepreneurs are like a crapload of people in one.  They are the talent, the financiers, the marketers.  They have to be creative and business-minded and have their foot in every part of the business.  Now imagine being every one of those people with the questions, thoughts, details and overall obsessive concerns of all those people constantly running through your head.  That’s the life of an entrepreneur with ADHD.

I wasn’t diagnosed with my ADHD until adulthood.  I was told by the doctor that I was very high-functioning and that made it easy for me to compensate for many years and never be diagnosed.  The reason that it was becoming increasingly difficult as an adult was because I was taking on so much.  Looking back on my childhood I can see how my ADHD affected me every single day but I never knew that what I was struggling with wasn’t “normal”.  I know that ADHD can tend to be a little over-diagnosed and so it’s hard for people to accept it’s existence.  It wasn’t until I was old enough to be really self-aware that I realized my process wasn’t what is considered the norm and had to come to terms with what I was dealing with.

My biggest issue is my inability to focus which makes it difficult to organize and plan.  Having so many thoughts going through my head at once makes it so that I bounce around from thing to thing without completing the last task and because my brain overthinks everything, my anxiety (which was diagnosed as GAD) settles in and every reason why something won’t work has now become the new topic.  So everything becomes, “ooh I need to that but…”  It also makes me forget things quickly so if I don’t return a text message, an email, or a phone call immediately, days could go by before I ever think about it again and the anxiety of having to talk to people and give them the right information makes me procrastinate which is also an issue when it comes to networking and being social. Social anxiety and awkwardness sets in and it can be crippling.  Decision making takes so long that sometimes things just don’t get done.

All of these things combined make being an entrepreneur that much harder BUT on the flip-side of it.  Entrepreneurship fits my personality perfectly.  My focus issues work both ways.  There are days when I can hyper focus on a task and it helps me to really put my all into it.  When I love something I learn everything there is to learn about it which really gives me confidence in what I am doing and helps me better much better at it.  Thinking through every side of something helps it to be more perfect when it FINALLY is completed.  I also think there is a sense of free-thinking which comes along with my ADHD which helps my creativity.

In order to be able to run multiple businesses and continue to be high-functioning, it has been necessary to incorporate techniques to help to keep me at least remotely organized.

LISTS

I cannot not make lists. To do list, list of places to visit, lists of people ideas, lists of people, lists of events, list of groceries lol.  My lists are everything!  They help me to make space in my head but getting things down and they help me to not forget.  If there are items I need to bring for a photo shoot in the morning.  I have to write ever item down.  I will without question forget an item if I try to keep it in my memory.

EVERNOTE

Evernote is life. Evernote is an app that keeps track of… well, everything.  This is where I organize my post ideas, and shoot ideas, and all of my lists. I have had Evernote for years but never took full advantage of it until recently and it is a lifesaver!  Stay tuned for my whole post about my Evernote and the best ways that it helps me and can help you too (ADHD or not)!

A PLACE FOR EVERYTHING

This is something I’m working on trying to really stick with but having a set place for everything really helps my forgetfulness.  For example, I put my car keys in the same exact place every time because if I don’t, they will easily get lost.  My brain does not hold onto random information if I am not deliberate about it because there are just more important things to worry about so I have to be very conscious about small details.

CALENDAR

I write every event down on my calendar. Networking, sessions, birthday parties, etc. if it’s not on my calendar, it’s not happening.  I won’t remember the date or time. There has to be 1-2 alerts set as well.  A reminder a few days out so I know something is coming up and I can mentally prepare to have to be out and about and then one the same day to make sure I’m there timely (or close to it).

Those are four major things I do to try to combat my ADHD & GAD but there are so many more.  One of my favorite books that has helped me and has a lot of useful tips is Your Life Can Be Better by Douglas A. Puryear.  The author struggles with ADHD and talks about how it has affected his family and his work life.  He gives lots of really great tips to get organized and stay focused.

Whether you have ADHD or not, what are some of the ways that help you to stay organized that may help someone that struggles to stay organized like myself?