We’re all different!
What’s working for me might not be working for you. What I like to do for recreational activities might be a nightmare for you.
What you eat for dinner might not ever reach a plate in my house.
And you know what? That’s how things should be.
So before you get on to the meat and potato section of this blog post, remember that I’m not judging you or anybody else. Everybody are exactly where they want to be.
Now you might not be a perfectionist but I’m sure you know one or more people who are.
The type of person that are detailed oriented. Who wants everything they do to be absolutely perfect. Someone who is focused on doing everything by the letter and never jump over where the fence is lowest.
Having an IT background, I’ve met quite a few of these people. IT developers who would turn a small 10 hour task into 100 hours simply because they didn’t feel that the client’s description would result in a solution that was good enough.
Now I don’t say that all perfectionists are wrong, certainly not. Some of the best developers I’ve ever met was this kind of person. However most of the time they were not the ones offering the most business value.
100% is a dream
The problem with perfection is that it simply does not exist. Period.
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Anything can be improved!
So striving for perfection is a journey without an end.
If you disagree with me, then by all means let me know in the comments. As you have probably found out by now based on my writing, I’m in no way a perfectionist.
If your job is building manned space shuttles, your end product should probably be of higher quality than normal with requirements on the testing phase, however even a shuttle designed for taking people to the moon and back again can be improved in one way or another.
It might not be economical feasible to do so, but it can be improved.
And why is this a problem?
As an entrepreneur you want a product or service that can be sold. If you spend years in your basement designing it to be perfect, you will be utterly disappointed when you first launch it to “real customers”.
In IT we talk about iterative and agile development. When doing this you release the end product in small but working chunks to the end customer, so they can start using it.
The reason that most (mature) companies are working this way, is because what’s know as the Waterfall Model, where you describe everything you wanted in the system upfront, have proved to fail more times than it succeeds.
So the agile approach came from the idea that you are gain more knowledge the further you get in your development and that you are therefore trying to hit a moving target.
The imperfect entrepreneur
So as an entrepreneur it’s your job to design a product or service to be “good enough” to launch. Just look at Facebook. Do you think that their service looks exactly like when they launched? Of course not, it’s evolved and modified to serve both their users and their own business better.
As a perfectionist you will always find something you can improve and it will therefore take you much longer to get your product or service in the hands of real customers.
On top of that you will also have a much higher chance of failure because real customers have had less impact on your finished product.
And no, you don’t want to come to Thailand as well
I love Thailand. The cheap and fantastic food, the great weather and the incredible friendly people are among my favorite things about the country.
But let’s face it. There aren’t many perfectionist in Thailand. And if you’re one of those people that has to have everything by your head and everything needs to go by your (perfect) schedule, then you’re in for a big disappointment.
For instance I called up a guy who drives us around and asked if he could pick us up.
He replies with the same answer I’ve heard him say so many times before “Ehh, ten minutes ok?”
And you know what? He tends to actually be there after a 12-13 minutes. That is one of the reasons why we like him. He’s kind of reliable for a Thai (sorry, that came out a bit harsh :)).
But the other day I had to meet a guy at noon and I called my driver up 30 minutes before. He replied with the usual “Ehh, ten minutes ok” and my Danish brain translated it into “He will probably be here in 10 minutes”.
After 25 minutes, still no car and I had to call him (it was now 5 minutes before my appointment with JC and the drive would probably around 10 minutes).
His response was “ok ok, 5 minutes”.
Now I had the option to make the same mistake again or I could simply apply what I had already learned about Thai time. After 12 minutes I called him again and this time his response was “yes hurry – 1 minute”.
He was there after 3 minutes and I got to my meeting quite late :).
Now this kinds of things happen all the time, and luckily my buddy JC has been living in Thailand for the past ten years so he wasn’t that surprised when I showed up 30 minutes late.
But just imagine what happens when you try to buy a house here. Oh – but that’s an entire different story I might share in the future :).
Morale of the story? Don’t expect everything… well… anything to go according to your schedule and your plans in Thailand. If you do so, you will be utterly disappointed.
And if you want another funny example of Thai life (and this time it has something to do with our house here in Thailand) you should read this update on my Facebook page 
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