For more than 15 years, I owned a publishing firm.
Of all the lessons I learned during that time, two were essential.
One is that publishing is about deadline after deadline.
The other is that you cannot be perfect.
When I began the company, I had no experience whatsoever in publishing.
But for some reason, I knew I could make a go of it, and I am glad to say that I did.
But much of my success -- or more so my sanity -- came from the wise words of my mentor.
I had told her about the frustration I was having as deadlines approached.
She responded by telling me to always remember Mary Poppins' advice, "Be practically perfect in every way.
" No matter how perfect I wanted a magazine or book to be, I knew that there would always be something that I would have liked to have done differently.
But as Mary advised, I had to be practical about it.
I looked at things in a different light from that point.
I still tried to have things as perfect as possible, but I remembered to be practical in my quest for perfection.
Now, as a speaker, author, and marketing coach, I advise self-employed professionals and other small business owners to be practical, telling them they do not have to wait for perfection before implementing a strategy or idea.
Learning-by-doing is the only way to move toward the elusive target of perfection and trial and error are splendid teachers.
If you are waiting for perfection before launching a project, think about Mary Poppins and her words of wisdom.
They are simply perfect.