As we approach 2026, there’s a familiar pressure building. The pressure to set bold New Year resolutions, to finally get everything “right,” to transform your business overnight. But here’s what years of entrepreneurship have taught me: perfection is the enemy of progress.
If you’re a business owner staring down another January, feeling the weight of unfinished projects from 2025 and an overwhelming list of what you should accomplish in 2026, this post is for you.
Why Perfection Holds Business Owners Back
Perfectionism in business manifests in subtle but destructive ways. You delay launching that new service until the website is “perfect.” You rewrite the same email campaign for weeks. You put off delegating because no one will do it quite like you would.
The cost? Missed opportunities, burnout, and the slow death of momentum.
Research consistently shows that businesses that iterate quickly and learn from imperfect launches outperform those that wait for perfect conditions. Your customers don’t need perfection—they need solutions, and they need them now.
The Progress-First Mindset for 2026
Starting the new year with a progress-focused approach means shifting how you think about growth:
• Done is better than perfect. A launched product with minor flaws beats a perfect product that never sees daylight. You can refine after release, but you can’t improve what doesn’t exist yet.
• Small wins compound. Rather than overhauling your entire business model on January 1st, focus on incremental improvements. A 1% improvement each week leads to 67% growth over a year. That’s the power of consistent progress over sporadic perfection.
• Feedback beats assumptions. Perfect plans often fail because they’re built on untested assumptions. Progress-oriented business owners test ideas quickly, gather real customer feedback, and adjust accordingly.
Setting Progress-Based Goals for Your Business
Traditional New Year resolutions fail because they’re outcome-focused without process consideration. Instead, try this framework:
• Choose three progress pillars. Pick three areas where consistent progress will have the biggest impact on your business. Perhaps it’s customer acquisition, product development, and team building.
• Define minimum viable actions. For each pillar, identify the smallest meaningful action you can take weekly. If customer acquisition is a pillar, your minimum viable action might be “send five personalized outreach messages” rather than “acquire 100 new customers.”
• Track momentum, not perfection. Create a simple tracking system that celebrates action. Did you do your minimum viable action this week? That’s a win, regardless of the immediate results.
Practical Progress Strategies for Business Owners
• The 80/20 launch approach. When launching anything new in 2026, aim for 80% ready. That final 20% often represents diminishing returns that delay your launch by months. Launch at 80%, then iterate based on real feedback.
• Time-box your perfectionism. Give yourself fixed deadlines for decisions and tasks. When the time is up, move forward with what you have. This forces progress and prevents analysis paralysis.
• Celebrate imperfect action. Rewire your brain to value taking action over perfect execution. Keep a “progress journal” where you note every imperfect step forward. These small acknowledgments build momentum.
• Build in reflection cycles. Progress without direction is just motion. Schedule monthly reviews to assess what’s working, what’s not, and adjust your approach. This keeps you moving forward intentionally.
What Progress Over Perfection Looks Like in Practice
In January, you might launch a new service with a basic sales page instead of waiting for custom branding. You’ll gather paying customers and testimonials while your competitor is still debating color schemes.
By March, you’ve tested three different marketing messages (imperfectly) and identified which resonates most. Meanwhile, the perfectionist is still crafting their “perfect” campaign.
Come June, you’ve iterated your service based on six months of customer feedback. You’ve built something genuinely better than your original vision because you allowed it to evolve through progress, not emerge fully formed from planning.
By year’s end, you’ve shipped twelve imperfect improvements while your perfectionist competitor shipped one “perfect” launch—and you’re miles ahead.
The Permission You Need
Here’s what I want you to know as we enter 2026: You have permission to start before you’re ready. Permission to launch before it’s perfect. Permission to iterate publicly rather than perfect privately.
Your business doesn’t need a flawless New Year resolution. It needs a committed owner who values forward motion over pristine plans.
The businesses that thrive aren’t run by people who never make mistakes—they’re run by people who make mistakes quickly, learn fast, and keep moving forward.
Your Progress Challenge for 2026
Instead of New Year resolutions, set a progress intention: What’s one imperfect action you can take in the first week of January that you’ve been putting off?
Maybe it’s sending that pitch you’ve been perfecting for months. Perhaps it’s launching that beta program with just five spots. Or maybe it’s delegating that task that “only you can do.”
Take that action in week one of 2026. Make it imperfect. Make it real. Make it progress.
Because at the end of 2026, you won’t remember the perfect plans you made. You’ll celebrate the imperfect progress you achieved.
Here’s to a year of done over perfect, momentum over stagnation, and growth over waiting.
What imperfect action will you take first?
P.S. Ready to take imperfect action right now? If building a business that supports your lifestyle and goals resonates with you, visit my Work With Me to explore how we help entrepreneurs launch and grow without waiting for perfect conditions. Progress-focused business owners welcome.
