If you are a perfectionist, it is likely that you are also a planner. You have a daily plan, a weekly plan, monthly goals and quarterly reporting. These are all good things to have in a business. But sometimes, you may find that despite all your planning, you still feel stressed and it seems like you still cannot achieve all the things you set out to do. You may end up feeling like it was a waste of time planning in the first place!

There is a key to good planning: spontaneity. On first glance, this might seem like an oxymoron! How can you be planned AND spontaneous? But good planning takes into account the likelihood of unplanned events, and creates space for changes and unexpected tasks.

Planning should always involve knowing where you are heading. That is, it is important to have a plan with an outcome or end goal in mind, with the relevant steps to get there. But when something unexpected happens, be flexible enough to take a different route, knowing that you can keep aiming for the original goal, you just may take different steps to get there.

Something that may help all those perfectionists reading this, is to view your day’s achievements by asking: ‘did I make good choices today about how I spent my time?’, rather than ‘did I do everything that was on my list today?’. Ideally, plans should be a guide, not a roadmap with a course that cannot be diverted. Spend enough time that you are clear where you are headed, but leave the specifics open enough so that when opportunities arise, you are not so dogmatically focused on tasks that you miss them. This may mean evaluating your plan throughout the day, and re-prioritising your tasks to work out what is the most important task right now.

When it comes down to it, there are no ‘rules’ for how you should run your business. That’s the awesome part of being a business owner! So don’t get caught up in what your think ‘should’ happen but leave some room for flexibility and responsiveness.

Michelle Grice writes a weekly column for business women in The Western Weekender

On Facebook this week I was reading many responses to the resignation of Georgie Gardner, one of the hosts of The Today Show. She explained that she was leaving so she could spend time with her family while her children are still young. Most women admire her decision, although the reaction has also been “Georgie seemed like she had it all, but even SHE can’t balance a demanding job and children”.

Georgie certainly isn’t suggesting (in words or example) that every working mother needs to follow her lead. But it did prompt me to think again about how business women achieve some sort of balance.

Everyone who has started a business has encountered numerous situations where they needed to seek expert advice. Seeking assistance (with tasks outside your skill set or on larger ‘direction’ and goal issues) is essential to taking back time.

You need to ensure that you plan the next steps and goals in your business: but you also need to be prepared to throw it out! You will waste time and create more stress by sticking with a plan that isn’t working.

Although it likely goes against your very core as a business owner, you need to stop aiming for perfection in everything you do. There will always be something that can be improved and if you wait for ‘perfection’, you are likely to miss opportunities and waste a great deal of time aiming for the unachievable.

We all feel overwhelmed at times. But the sooner we realise that extensive hours (and inadequate sleep) has more negative than positive results, the sooner we will find a better balance in life.

Michelle Grice writes a weekly column for business women in The Western Weekender