Mary Poppins' Words of Wisdom for Small Business Owners
For more than 15 years, I owned a publishing firm. I learned two valuable lessons during that time. 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. Nonchalantly 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 consultant and coach, I advise my clients 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 trail 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.
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Copyright 2007, Peter George