Designing a business you’re stoked about starts here—welcome to The Monday Muse, your weekly guide to business, branding, and creative strategy. 🤸🏼‍♀️

Everyone sees perfectionism as a badge of honor when it’s actually a prison.

Three years ago, I was standing in my shower when a podcast called “Perfectionism Sucks” completely rearranged my understanding of success. I walked out not only clean but with my entire worldview shifted.

I’d been wearing perfectionism like a crown of glory, thinking it was the secret sauce to my success. “But it helps me deliver quality work that’s better than everyone else’s!” I’d protest. “I just need to figure out how to work with it better!”

Perfectionism has been on my mind a lot as I recently finished reading Brené Brown’s Atlas of the Heart: Perfectionism isn’t about excellence at all—it’s about fear. It’s not about being your best; it’s about avoiding shame and judgment.

Think about it: When you’re obsessing over that email draft or redesigning your website for the fifteenth time, are you really asking “How can this better serve my clients?” Or are you asking “What will people think?”

Perfectionism actually pushes people away when we’re desperately trying to connect deeper.

You’re trying to build genuine connections in your business, right?

But perfectionism has you showing up like a carefully curated Instagram feed instead of a real human being. You’re orchestrating every interaction, polishing every response, and maintaining an exhausting façade of flawlessness.

And guess what? People can feel it. They can sense the wall between your carefully constructed image and your real self. While you’re trying to create connection through perfection, you’re actually building barriers.

Who do you trust more—the person who never makes mistakes and always has it together, or the leader who openly shares their learning moments and grows through them? Who do you feel more drawn to—the “perfect” expert who seems untouchable, or the guide who’s walked the path, stumbled a few times, and can show you how to navigate the messy middle?

Authenticity is a requirement for connection, and perfectionism is its biggest threat. 

We’re literally perfectioning ourselves right out of the relationships we’re trying to build.

Your clients don’t need you to be perfect. They need you to be real. 

They need you to show them that success isn’t about avoiding mistakes—it’s about learning from them. They need to see that if you can do it, so can they.

Let’s get really honest for a minute.

Your perfectionism is costing you everything you want.

It’s costing you clients who need your help right now while you’re tweaking that website for the fifteenth time. 

It’s costing you revenue while you’re “perfecting” your offer instead of putting it out into the world. 

It’s costing you opportunities while you’re waiting to “know enough” before taking the next step.

And here’s the part that hurts: It’s costing the people who need you their chance to work with you.

Perfectionism isn’t about being your best—it’s about shielding yourself from discomfort.

The discomfort of making a mistake, looking foolish, or, let’s be honest, being human.

But mistakes aren’t optional—they’re inevitable.

This is where perfectionism shows up in business:

• Overthinking every decision until you’re paralyzed and make no decision
• Avoiding launching something because it doesn’t feel “ready”
• Spending so much time trying to make something perfect that it never actually sees the light of day

This isn’t about settling for mediocrity. (I’m not suggesting you start sending emails full of typos or launching half-baked products.) This is about creating space for progress, curiosity, and real connection.

Want to know the most powerful shift I’ve seen in my clients? It’s when they finally realize that their imperfect action is changing more lives than their perfect inaction ever could.

When you stop trying to be perfect at everything, you can finally step into your zone of genius. When you accept that some areas aren’t your strength, you can outsource help from the right people that will get you there. When you release the need for perfection, you can finally start executing.

Here’s your permission slip (not that you needed one): You don’t have to know everything. You don’t have to do everything perfectly. You just have to take the next step—even if it’s messy, even if it’s imperfect.

Every day you spend pursuing perfection is a day you’re not serving your purpose. 

Every hour spent overthinking is an hour someone who needs your help isn’t getting it. 

Every minute wasted on “what if they judge me” is a minute you’re not living in your purpose.

Let that sink in: Every day you spend tweaking, waiting, or overthinking is a day someone isn’t getting the help only you can provide.

It’s time to strip away the noise of “What will people think?” so you can focus on “How can I move forward?”

My job is to help you get out of your own way. When you hand off the things that aren’t in your zone of genius, you create space for curiosity, creativity, and execution. Instead of spinning your wheels trying to make everything perfect, you can actually start making progress.

Because here’s what I know for sure: Your imperfect action will always beat perfect inaction. Always.

Good enough is enough.

You don’t need to know everything or do everything on your own. What you need is to take the next step—even if it’s messy, even if it’s imperfect. That’s how you create something real. That’s how you build connection. That’s how you grow.

This week, I dare you (bet you didn’t know we were playing truth AND dare today) to:

• Share that “not quite perfect” post to Instagram
• Send that “good enough” email
• Launch that “mostly ready” offer
• Ask for help in areas where you’re weak

And here’s the most powerful dare of all: Let yourself be imperfectly seen. Share the mess-ups along with the wins. Tell the story of what didn’t work alongside what did. Because that’s where real connection happens. That’s where your clients will see themselves in your journey. That’s where transformation begins. 

(But you need to take messy action to share stories of progress)

Perfectionism isn’t the price of admission for success. Action is. And messy action is still action.

This is what I know for sure: Your success—and more importantly, the success of those waiting for your help—depends on you putting down that 20-ton shield of perfectionism.

Ready to pursue your purpose? Ready to serve at a higher level? Ready to actually achieve those goals instead of just planning them perfectly?

Let’s talk. Because your imperfect action today is worth more than your perfect plan tomorrow. The world needs what you have to offer. Right now. Not when it’s perfect.

And that podcast that changed everything for me? I’ll send it to you. Because sometimes the best breakthroughs happen when we least expect them—maybe even in your shower.

What would be possible if you gave yourself permission to take messy action today?

Stoked to see ya next Monday,
Bri