Feeling of not being good enough word

There might be affiliate links on this page, which means we get a small commission of anything you buy. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Please do your own research before making any online purchase.

But that’s not to say that monsters aren’t real, for even as adults, we continue to hide from the beasts. And the feeling of not being good enough is by far the biggest and ugliest of them all.

These ‘Not good enough’ quotes can offer some light in the darkness. To help you rationalize those feelings once again. And in time, believe that you are indeed completely and utterly enough.

How Can You Overcome the Feeling of Not Being Good Enough?

Going through a relationship breakup, a job rejection, and even a fallout with family all ignite the same horrible feeling of not being good enough. And it’s a hard one to shake off.

The lack of self-worth worms its way into every aspect of your life. You begin to criticize yourself and find every little flaw, like dinner being 10 minutes late. The small typo in an article you wrote. Or your car being a mess because you couldn’t find time to clean it.

A partner, your colleagues, or even your parents could be fueling your feelings of inadequacy with ridiculous expectations for perfection. It’s important to recognize the toxic behaviors and distance yourself from them.

Imagine that you’re carrying the weight of their actions around in a rucksack. With each disapproving word, the bag feels heavier, as if filled with rocks. Only you no longer wish to be weighed down by their judgment. And so, you leave the bag on the side of the road, allowing yourself to stand tall and walk freely.

Breaking away will undoubtedly be difficult, especially if the person weighing you down plays an important part in your life. But without the courage to say ‘Enough is enough’, they will only drag you further into the darkness of self-doubt.

Try using some of these ‘Not good enough’ quotes to find comfort, and know that you are not alone. Sometimes, the understanding of another human being is all we need to push forward.

So let’s get started.

1. “I understand that feeling of insecurity, like you’re not good enough as you are, and you need to change.” – Shannon Purser
2. “I felt so much, that I started to feel nothing.” – Unknown
3. “There’s not one human being on the planet earth who has never felt, at some point, unaccepted. At some point in our lives, we feel like we’re not good enough, but we have to step back and realize that we are.” – Jussie Smollett
4. “Sometimes, I feel as useless as a white crayon.” – Unknown
5. “Nothing will knock you down quicker than offering the best of yourself to someone and it still not being good enough.” – M.W Poetry
6. “People will try to label you not good enough, too slow, too old, too many mistakes. You can’t stop negative comments or prevent negative labels, but you can choose to not let them hold you back.” – Joel Osteen
7. “It feels like I am living every day trying to impress someone.” – Unknown
8. “I put a lot of pressure on myself. I think something’s not good enough, and I won’t stop until I feel like I’ve made it. I’m never satisfied.” – J. Cole
9. “And if you don’t like me, as I do you; I understand. Because who would really choose a daisy, in a field of roses?” – Unknown
10. “I’m sorry that nothing I do is good enough.” – Unknown

1. “All I can tell you really is if you get to the point where someone is telling you that you are not great or not good enough, just follow your heart and don’t let anybody crush your dream.” – Patti LaBelle
2. “The worst thing about that kind of prejudice… is that while you feel hurt and angry and all the rest of it, it feeds you self-doubt. You start thinking, perhaps I am not good enough.” – Nina Simone
3. “Good enough is never good enough.” – Alfred Bertram Guthrie
4. “Every time I looked in the mirror, it was like, ‘You’re not good enough.’ ‘There’s always someone more popular.’” – Brian Welch
5. “I did the best I could, and in some arenas, my best was not good enough. I’ve made some bad choices.” – Amy Grant
6. “And it is easy to believe you are not good enough if you listen to everybody else.”- Mackenzie Astin
7. “Sometimes you might feel like you’re not good enough or unique enough, but everyone is! Everyone has different personalities.” – Astrid S

Sometimes you might feel like you’re not good enough or unique enough, but everyone is! Everyone has different personalities.” – Astrid S

1. “And above all things, never think that you’re not good enough yourself. A man should never think that. My belief is that in life people will take you at your own reckoning.” – Isaac Asimov
2. “You’ve been criticizing yourself for years and it hasn’t worked. Try approving of yourself and see what happens.” – Louise Hay
3. “It’s a lie to think you’re not good enough. It’s a lie to think you’re not worth anything.”- Nick Vujicic
4. “I think the worst feeling in the world knowing that someone you used to talk to every day doesn’t care about you anymore.” – Unknown
5. “You may never be good enough for some people, but you will always be the best for those who deserve you.” – Unknown
6. “Doubt whom you will, but never yourself.” – Christian Nestell Bovee

1. “We are afraid of failure, of ridicule, of being rejected. We are afraid we’re not good enough.” – Rhonda Britten
2. “Shame is the most powerful, master emotion. It’s the fear that we’re not good enough.” – Brené Brown
3. “Don’t let anyone tell you that you’re not good enough. Don’t let anyone tell you that you’re too short, you’re too fat, you’re too thin, you’re too ugly – that’s nonsense.” – Bradley Walsh
4. “Rejection doesn’t mean you aren’t good enough; it means the other person failed to notice what you have to offer.” – Unknown
5.  “At your absolute best, you still won’t be good enough for the wrong person.” – Unknown
6. “Sweetheart, the right guy will make you a priority. If you find yourself feeling like you’re not good enough, it’s because he’s not good enough.” – Steve Maraboli
7. “I go to sleep every single night thinking I’m not good enough. I really do. I don’t know if that’s healthy or not. But I really do have a fear of not being good, and I don’t like that.” – Diana Taurasi
8. “There comes a point when you have to realize that you’ll never be good enough for some people. The question is, is that your problem or theirs?” – Unknown
9. “The moment someone tells you or makes you feel like you’re not good enough is the moment you know you’re better than them.” – Unknown
10. “Models are some of the most insecure people I’ve ever met. They’re constantly being told they’re not good enough. You’ve really got to practice loving yourself.” – Miranda Kerr

Models are some of the most insecure people I’ve ever met. They’re constantly being told they’re not good enough. You’ve really got to practice loving yourself.” – Miranda Kerr

1. “There will always be someone who can’t see your worth. Don’t let it be you.” – Unknown
2. “Self-doubt is the anchor that keeps our ships from sailing.” – Unknown
3. “Your path is your path. Don’t compare it to others. Everyone’s timeline, obstacles, and triumphs are different.” – Jon Gordon
4. “My biggest fear is that I’m not good enough. I have this voice in my head that I’ve been battling for years that says, ‘You’re not really talented enough. You don’t really deserve this.’” – Rachel Platten
5. “Everyone’s journey is different. Don’t compare your path to anyone elses.” – Unknown
6. “We start to feel not good enough and we withdraw our hearts energy and sensor our authentic expression, and that hurts!” – Agapi Stassinopoulos
7. “She questioned her own beauty because of him he left scars on her self esteem…” – r.h. Sin
8. “Sometimes all you can do is lie in your bed, and hope to fall asleep before you fall apart.” – Unknown
9. “I guess I’m just not good enough for anyone. I can’t make anyone stay. I’m not even good enough for an explanation.” – Unknown
10. “Everywhere I look, someone is telling me, ‘You’re not good enough,’ or, ‘You can’t do this or that.’ You can only hear that so many times before enough is enough.” – Baker Mayfield
11. “It sucks, doesn’t it? Feeling like you’re not good enough.” – Unknown
12. “You are not your mistakes: they are what you did, not who you are.” – Lisa Lieberman-Wang

1. “There are times in your life when you realize that no matter what you do for some people, it will never be good enough.” – Unknown
2. “I wanted to be all things you loved. yet sadly I am plagued with flaws haunted by the thought that I never met up to your standards.” – Unknown
3.  “I’m sorry I’m not what you wanted.” – Unknown
4. “Who do you turn to when the only person in the world that can stop you from crying is exactly the one making you cry?” – Unknown
5. “I could be perfect and it still wouldn’t be good enough.” – Unknown
6. “If I asked you to name all the things you love, how long would it take to name yourself?” – Unknown

Final Thoughts on Feeling Like You’re Not Good Enough

And if you want more inspirational quotes, be sure to check out these blog posts:

• 71 You Are Worthy Quotes to Know You’re Enough
• 73 Overcoming Insecurities Quotes for a Confident You
• 65 Invest in Yourself Quotes to Find Success in Life

Finally, if you want to use these quotes to make a lasting change to your life, then check out and recite these 57 affirmations for success.

Rebel Jones has been writing from a young age. She first used poetry to organise words – the rhythm and flow brought peace to her chaos. But as she developed (both as a person and as a writer), she embraced her offbeat thought process and found her own style and tone. Writing is definitely her happy place and one that she’s happy to share with the world.

No matter how successful our life may look or feel, if there’s something we are always going to struggle with it is the feeling of not being good enough. We might have excellent grades in school, a full-time job, have loving friends and a long-term partner but from time to time the idea that we’re not good enough can come to dominate our minds. “I’m not good enough for the job”, “I’m not attractive”, “I’m not very popular” or “I’m not enough for my girlfriend/boyfriend” are just some of the ways that this feeling can show up and have a huge impact on how we think, feel and behave.

 The feeling of not being good enough can lead people to develop what is known as the “impostor syndrome”. With this people question all their achievements and convince themselves that they’re a fraud about to be caught out at any time. To make matters worse, we can also start thinking that everyone around us is so much better at what they do. Social media seems to just amplify that everyone else is having a better life than us and perhaps causing us to think“she has a much better job than me”, “Look at their family, they are perfect together; that’s nothing like ours”, “I will never be like him/her”. This is probably something you can relate to.

Our inner critic can be so loud that it can completely
paralyse us. When this happens, we may begin to accept it as a true
representation of reality, with the result that we stop doing what we truly
care about. You can probably remember a time when you didn’t do something
because your “not good enough” thoughts showed up.

If we are interested in developing ourselves and creating a meaningful life, we need to find ways to deal with these thoughts before they paralyse us and prevent us from doing what we truly value in life.

So what would be an effective way of dealing with those thoughts?

Recognise that old ways of dealing with it don’t work

When those thoughts showed up in the past what did you try to overcome them? Did you try suppressing them at all costs as if they were not there? Perhaps saying things, “get away”, “just stop”. You might have tried to avoid them by doing something that makes you feel better, to take your mind away for the unpleasantness. Binge eating and drinking, taking tranquillizers and watching TV mindlessly are common strategies that we all use. Or perhaps you tried to control the thoughts? Maybe using positive thinking, repeating affirmations, saying you are the most perfect person in the world, all in an attempt to counter those negative thoughts. Another common strategy is to avoid situations that relate to those thoughts. For example, if you think you are not good enough to find a partner, you might avoid meeting new people. Or if you think you are not good enough at your job, you might start avoiding some tasks and challenges that could lead to a promotion.

Just ask yourself: did it really work? Did those thoughts disappear? Are they no longer a problem? I would guess that they didn’t work for you, otherwise, you wouldn’t be reading this article. Imagine how much valuable time you wasted in this attempt to rid yourself of these feelings. How long did you spend trying to control, suppress or avoid them?  What if you had used this time to build a life that has a purpose for you? Would things be different now?

Step one is to recognise that common strategies don’t work. Once you realise that, you can begin to develop new skills that do work. The alternative steps presented here are all backed-up by science using a mindfulness-based psychological approach called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).

Don’t fight with them – Accept that they are common and natural

To change our relationship with these persistent thoughts, we need to understand that our minds tend to operate automatically and that we have much less control over our minds than we imagine. If you want to test this, just try to stop thinking for 30 seconds or so. How did you do? Did you stop thinking? Or did you notice that thoughts seemed to come out of nowhere?

To make things worse, we have what psychologists call “the negativity bias” that makes negative experiences more prominent than positives one. You can probably recall having a really good day, full of positive experiences but all that was needed to ruin it was one bad interaction with a work colleague or a message from your partner complaining about something you forgot. That bad interaction stayed with you for a long time. It’s understood now that our brains are hardwired like this to help us survive. In our early days as a species, paying attention to the negative was a matter of life and death. Remember it’s your mind trying to save you. And that is an important function of the human mind, but this mechanism can sometimes work against us.

If we can’t control our thoughts and they are almost automatic, what can we do?

What if, instead of trying to control, suppress and avoid them, you could just allow them to be? This is where acceptance comes in. When we accept our feelings, we simply allow them to be. We don’t fight against them and we don’t try to change them. Eventually, they will go away. An attitude of acceptance allows us to avoid spending precious time trying to control the uncontrollable and instead frees us to do what we care about despite the unwanted thoughts and feelings.

Don’t buy into your thoughts

Once we realise that thoughts are automatic and tend to carry an element of negative bias, we can start changing our relationship with them. There is a key difference between having a thought and buying into a thought. We have thoughts all the time, every day. They could be reminders of things we have to do for a job, a plan for how to spend the weekend, something to buy at the supermarket or they could be about the world or ourselves. That’s quite easy to understand, but how can one not buy into a thought? Imagine that your mind is like a shop offering a great variety of products. Some of the products you like, some you don’t, some are important to you as they help you live your life better, some don’t add much to your life but you still feel persuaded to get them. Just like visiting a shop, you don’t get to choose what products they offer. You may dislike that they have a big section of something you don’t find useful or even hate but it’s most likely that you’ll just see that, acknowledge it and you move on to get what you think is important. You can choose to engage with the products you believe are useful to you.

You can do the same with your thoughts. You may have some thoughts that you don’t like, some you love and some that you are neutral about. In the same way that you choose products in a shop, you can choose which thoughts to pay attention to. So if you see a thought that you don’t like, just acknowledge it, saying something like “ oh that’s a negative thought” and move on to the what is really important to you.

Another useful way to disengage from those thoughts is by creating distance from them. You can do this by saying things like “My mind is saying that I’m an idiot” or “My mind is saying that I’m not good enough for the job”. By doing this we can create some distance from our thoughts and reduce its impacts on us. We start seeing that the mind has its own ideas that don’t depend much on our will. It’s almost as it’s coming from someone else. And like when thoughts come from other people, we can choose not to get engaged with them if we don’t find the discussion meaningful.

Be more present

Be more mindful, live in the moment, practise meditation. These are familiar words we often hear, and for good reason. Usually, when we have a negative thought about ourselves, those thoughts tend to be about something in the past. We can’t just stop ruminating about them thinking things like “why did I do that?” “Why am I so stupid?”. Or they could be about the future when we imagine the uncountable ways things can go wrong for us, thoughts like “I’m sure she will leave me, I’m not enough for her” or “I’ll screw things up again in tomorrow’s presentation”.

If we stop to focus on what’s really happening at the moment, we would see that this uncomfortable feeling is coming just from our minds. There’s nothing currently threatening us. Our minds are creating this anxiety. So it makes sense to develop the skill of slowly moving away from what’s happening inside of our minds to what’s actually happening at the moment.

One of the useful ways to bring you back to the present moment is to use short reminders or prompts to make your attention move outwards. A good one is to ask from time to time “What is happening right now?”. By doing that you will acknowledge what’s happening and will slowly train your attention to the now. For example, you can say “I’m having a thought about tomorrow’s presentation” “I’m sitting on my desk doing some work” “ I can hear people talking in the next room”.

A closely related reminder is to pay attention to your surroundings using the “5-4-3-2-1” tool. Looking for 5 things you can see, 4 things you can hear, 3 things you can touch, 2 you can smell and 1 you can taste. That will help you disengage with your thoughts and will make you connect to what’s happening around you instead of being lost in a spiral of thoughts.

Engage with what’s truly important to you

That leads us to the final point when dealing with thoughts
that we are “not being good enough”. Whenever we engage with negative thoughts,
we miss out on what’s truly important to us. The thoughts seem so real and
powerful that we can get carried away by them and lose focus on our values and
the kind of person we want to be.

Having a clear picture of what is meaningful to us and connecting with that is an effective way to reduce the impact of whatever our minds create. A good example of this would be of an athlete preparing for a prestigious competition. It’s almost certain that during preparation much doubt would emerge, making the athlete question her abilities. By connecting with the value of “courage” and “skilfulness”, this athlete would change her behaviour and focus on how important is for her to be brave in the face of difficulty and that she wants to be the kind of person that is always looking for ways to improve her skills. In the name of a “bigger cause”, her personal values, she can make space for any thoughts that may arrive. If you don’t have a clear picture of what your values are, ask yourself simple questions like “What’s really important” and “What do I want to stand for in life?”. Or, by imagining that you are having your 80^th birthday party and that at this party people will make speeches about you. What would you like them to say about you and your qualities? What kind of qualities do you most admire? Once you have clarified your values, use them to guide your actions in the world. Stop from time to time and just ask: “Is what I am about to do connected to any of my values?” “Is this the kind of person I want to be? Even if we are not athletes we can have these examples in mind and ask ourselves “Am I willing to have these uncomfortable feelings in the name of something bigger?”

Written by:

Filipe Bastos
Founder of:
www.mindowl.org

MindOwl Founder – My own struggles in life have led me to this path of understanding the human condition. I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy before completing a master’s degree in psychology at Regent’s University London.  I then completed a postgraduate diploma in philosophical counselling before being trained in ACT (Acceptance and commitment therapy).
I’ve spent the last eight years studying the encounter of meditative practices with modern psychology.

Mindowl Weekly

Sign up to our free weekly newsletter, to have early access to new articles on Meditation, Psychology and Breathwork.  Enter your email to subscribe – emails are limited to one a week and your address will not be shared with anyone else.

Check our YouTube Channel:

Follow us on Instagram:

Like any other relationship, the one you have with yourself should be nurtured. But over time, life can change and negative situations can trample over your confidence. It can be hard to overcome your fear of not being good enough when you constantly lack self-confidence. You might feel the urge to give up and ferment in your self-loath, but you should try to turn things around and make the most of it. This is why it’s important to find the source of the problem. Why do so many people believe they’re not good enough? Is it part of their DNA? Well, it might be.

«From a women’s perspective, I think there is definitely a physiological component. Women’s brains are wired differently than men. No matter the gender, I firmly believe that there’s also an environmental component that sometimes predates adulthood and goes back to childhood. Expectations are set in the school or social environments we experience as children and many times, those notions carry on through adulthood,» says Vice President of human resources and organizational development for Paychex Laurie Zaucha in an interview with Bustle over email.

But even if these things did happen doesn’t mean these feelings are going to stay with you forever. You have control of your environment and what you decide to surround yourself with can determine how you will perceive life. That’s why it’s so important to be cautious about who you hang out with and how you decide to talk to yourself. It can be exhausting (and boring) to live in a world where you stop yourself from experiencing life because you’re afraid to fail You deserve to be happy, and the only way life is going to change is if you make some changes, too. It’s time to grab life by the horns and find a way to overcome your fear of not being good enough.

1. Find The Root Of The Fear

It’s important for you to find the source of why you feel this way. The better you understand the reason, the easier it can be to overcome. «You need to look at the root of this fear. Is it based in any reality, or is it based in what we perceive others are thinking of us? Many times this is not accurate, and if we sat and were honest with ourselves, we would be kinder to ourselves, and admit that there is no one telling us we are not good enough but ourselves. If we allow ourselves to have the thoughts and beliefs that what people say positively about us might be true, we start to plant the seeds of feeling good enough,» says psychologist Nicole Martinez Psy.D., LCPC, in an interview with Bustle over email.

2. Fake It ‘Til You Make It

«If you aren’t confident, pretend that you are. Confidence can be faked — or perhaps better explained, confidence can be learned, practiced, and built. The more you do it, the better you’ll be,» says Zaucha. While you don’t want to pretend to be someone you’re not, you want to build yourself up from within so you can become more confident in the long run.

3. Focus On Past Successes

Sometimes it’s hard to be positive when your current situation isn’t looking great. But when that does happen, think about your past successes to help you overcome your fear of not being good enough. «Focus on past successes. Remember what you did to overcome a challenge or achieve a certain goal. Replay that feeling in your mind. Visualize a successful outcome over and over again,» says Zaucha.

4. Expose Yourself To The Feared Activity

One of the best ways to over your fear of not being good enough is by actually doing the thing that you fear the most. «If you fear an activity or an event or an interaction with another person, the best way to conquer the fear (based on research) is to expose yourself to the feared activity. Exposure (and gradual increase of exposure) can help alleviate fear and anxiety around feeling inadequate. When you fear you won’t perform ‘well enough’ or ‘perfectly’ do it anyway. This, in turn, will help to boost self-esteem and identity,» says licensed clinical psychologist Dr. Kim Chronister in an interview with Bustle over email.

5. Don’t Use Self-Deprecating Language

It’s time to believe in your words when you communicate them to other people. You don’t want to disregard your thoughts just because you don’t think they’re good enough or afraid that someone else won’t like them. «Have a point of view. Don’t use minimizing phrases like ‘I was just thinking …’ or ‘I could be wrong, but …’ Make statements rather than asking questions. Cut all of that self-deprecating language out of your vocabulary and simply say what you want to say – and do it with confidence,» says Zaucha.

6. Be Mindful Of Your Body Language

Believe it or not, you can feel 100 percent better if you become more aware of how you choose to present yourself. «Whether it’s your body language or what you are wearing, make sure you look confident. Sit and stand tall. Wear business-appropriate clothing. Make eye contact. Smile confidently and have a firm handshake. These actions all seem pretty simple, but physical impressions are more important than you may realize,» says Zaucha.

7. Practice It Every Day

«Practicing being confident is a great starting point. The more you do it, the better you will get at it,» says Zaucha. The more you practice being self-confident, the better you can become. Make sure you talk to yourself more positively and surround yourself with things that are going to make you happy.

8. Celebrate Your Successes

«Confidence will turn your thoughts into action, and that action will help you achieve anything you set your mind to. And don’t forget to take note of — and celebrate — your successes when they happen,» says Zaucha. No matter how small your successes are, you should celebrate them. This act can boost your spirit up and allow you to remember how much of a badass you are.

9. Figure Out What Your Learning Style Is

It can be easy to feel defeated when you feel like you’re different from someone else. You might not feel good enough because someone learns quicker than you, but everyone learns differently and you shouldn’t lose confidence because of that. Instead, try to figure out your learning style so you can overcome your fear and gain confidence. «Experience and realism are key. When you are learning a new skill: know your own learning style (for example: do you need to dip your toe in the shallow end, or do you dive right in?) Research all you can to find out what it really takes to get good at something you want to, and make a plan that is realistic,» says NY state licensed marriage and family therapist Gracie Landes in an interview with Bustle over email.

10. Remember To Love Yourself For Who You Are

Sometimes you don’t feel good enough because you compare yourself to other people. Stop this. You need to remember that you bring so much to the table and the world would be so different without you. Love yourself for who you are. You deserve to be celebrated for being you. «When I have these feelings and thoughts that I am just not good enough at work, in personal relationships, in my family, etc, I try to always remind myself to love myself for who I really am. I always try to name at least three things that I love about myself and that I’m proud of being good at. I understand that it’s simply impossible for a person to be everything to everyone and to be perfect at everything,» says CEO and co-founder of Grabr Daria Rebenok in an interview with Bustle over email.

11. Stop Overthinking It

If you’re anything like me, you have a hard time not overthinking everything. But this way of thinking is toxic and can hurt your self-confidence. «Not feeling ‘good enough’ is a symptom of thinking of oneself too much. We need to get out of our self to remember what we are truly made of. The power that we have lays dormant underneath all the incessant thinking,» says meditation guru and Topdeck MOVE spokesperson Biet Simkin in an interview with Bustle over email.

12. Work On Your Well-being

Honestly, you won’t feel great about yourself if you don’t feel good from within. You need to take the time to maintain your health to boost your confidence and get over your fear of not being good enough. «One of the main things we want to do with energy we save is transmute it in our meditations. I don’t believe that we need to give up life to meditate or give up desire to meditate. Quite the contrary, I believe in success, world travel, luxury, fun, sex etc.! This is one of the reasons I partnered with Topdeck Travel for the launch of their MOVE program. With Topdeck’s wellness program, we can give people an experience that is spiritual while they travel and [push] their limits and minds when on the road is the best juxtaposition for meditation that there is. In today’s world we don’t need to give up our belongings to reach enlightenment,» says Simkin.

13. Remind Yourself That You’re Not The Only One Who Feels Like This

Remember one thing: everyone has felt this way sometime in their life. It’s normal. But you don’t want to have to deal with this fear of not being good enough for the rest of your life. Take charge by figuring out how you can battle this thought and become more confident. «I always try to be true to myself, as I’m trying to understand the source of my self-doubt and how I can work around it and improve it. I constantly surround myself with people who appreciate me and support me and see a better perspective in me, that sometimes I don’t see in myself. It’s important to understand that you’re not the only one that feels this way. Even people who seem that they have it all feel like they are not good enough in some aspect of their life,” says Rebenok.

Even though it’s completely natural to feel like you’re not good enough every once in a while, you want to overcome your fear of not being good enough by not overthinking things, celebrating your successes, and working on your well-being.

Images: Pexels

We’ve all been there.

You want to tackle that blog post on that one topic, but you’re not an expert.

You want to create that eBook but everyone else has already written an eBook and they’ve done it better than you.

You want to reach out to an influencer with the hopes of collaborating, but they’ve never heard of you.

You want to take a short course in a topic you know will be useful, but it looks overwhelming.

You want to create a course for your audience but where do you even start? And you’ve hardly got time for your work as it is, how would you ever fit this in?

We have so many dreams, and twice as many things holding us back.

Can you imagine, though, if everyone who ever created anything waited until they were an expert to do so? Half of the things we have today wouldn’t exist. This is why there’s so many iPhones. Steve Jobs didn’t just release this bad boy in 2007 then sit down and go “ok, that’s done” – Apple keeps revising, innovating, improving, but letting you still have earlier versions that plenty of people are plenty satisfied with.

You can do the same. You can get out a version that’s done but not perfect, and keep upgrading as you go. And that right there is the mantra you need to remember, the five words pasted on the wall of Facebook Headquarters, the battle cry of the young and the hungry: Done is Better than Perfect.

We all know if you wait for perfection, you’ll never get finished. Or if you do ever finish, you’re too late and the trend has passed, your knowledge is obsolete, or there is no consumer demand for your product any more. Or worse – someone else did it and they were successful and theirs wasn’t even as good as yours.

Seth Godin is famous for a lot of things, but one thing comes up time and time again among you and me and the people in our industry is the catchcry: ship it. It’s his version of “done is better than perfect” – just get the thing out there. Just ship your product already, whether that’s a physical product, your eBook, your blog post, it doesn’t matter. Get your creation in the hands of the people.

The Roadblocks

So what is holding you back? Why are you waiting for perfection? Is it fear? Are you afraid of being criticised? Are you afraid of selling a sub-par item, or even one that is good but not your best work? What will people say? Will they be disappointed they spent their time or money on you? And tell you that?

Darren recently published a podcast about the three questions you can ask yourself when you’re afraid, if that’s your roadblock. Is it the quest for perfection that’s stalling your creativity? Is it the fear of getting into the big leagues? Is it what people might say about you? You really need to recognise the roadblocks so you can minimise or eliminate them.

One of the best things you can do is sit down and write out what it is that’s holding you back. Setting it all down on paper really helps you see what it is you’re afraid of (especially if you haven’t quite articulated it yet), and give you some perspective about how you can tackle these issues so you can just ship.

Start Small

Then there’s that whole thing about overwhelm, and how it holds us back from even starting on our project. Yes we want to write an eBook, but man, what a giant job! You can no longer bang out a few sentences in Word, put a cover on it, convert to PDF and chuck it up on your site (or can you?!) – there’s a multitude of things you have to consider. Huge things, things that will potentially decide whether you succeed or fail, things that need attention and decisions and actual work to bring to life.

So just start. Before you can just ship, or just do, you have to just start [tweet that!]. Open a new document and type some title ideas, maybe your first sentence, a link to someone’s blog you want to interview, a colour scheme – anything that begins your journey. You may very well leave it untouched for the next six months, but you’ve made a small start. You’re well on your way to getting it done, and then you can think about making it perfect. Later.

Baby Steps

Every time you can, take the next step on the road to getting it done. Pick an image editing program you will use. Find or take a great cover photo. Decide on a font. Write a chapter. Send an email… just keep moving. Before you know it, all these baby steps will add up to a product that is done.

Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn, in his book The Start-up of You, sums this up perfectly:

‘Oh, I want to do it completely behind a cloak and then [remove] the cloak and everyone knows how wonderful and what a genius I am cause they think the product is so wonderful.’ That’s actually rarely the winning strategy. The actual winning strategy is ‘I’m moving, I’m getting out there and I’m adapting at a fast rate.’

You’re missing out

Hoffman also said this golden piece of advice that helps all of us remember everyone is in the same boat – or they were, before they were successful:

“If you are not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late.”

Don’t wait until it’s perfect. Just get it done. And when it embarrasses you, do it better.

What are you waiting to do? What is one step you can take to get it done?

Stacey Roberts is the Managing Editor of ProBlogger.net: a writer, blogger, and full-time word nerd balancing it all with being a stay-at-home mum. She writes about all this and more at Veggie Mama. Chat with her on Twitter @veggie_mama or be entertained on Facebook.