I see so many speakers who sabotage themselves by striving to be perfect:
- A speaker memorises a script to make sure they get all the words exactly right. Unfortunately, it creates a robotic delivery that removes the planned impact of their beautifully-crafted material.
- Worried about missing something out, a speaker decides instead to include every piece of information they have on their subject. The resulting bloated presentation is an avalanche of information that overwhelms their audience, who struggle to take it all in (that’s if they stay until the end).
- Fretting about what’s on the next slide, the speaker who strives for perfection fails to be in the moment, and so appears distant, rather than focusing on engaging their audience.
‘Perfect is the enemy of good’ is a saying that means insistence on perfection often prevents the implementation of good quality. Other versions are ‘Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without one’ and George Stigler’s assertion that ‘If you never miss a plane, you’re spending too much time at the airport’. I love that one. The risked missed planes are worth what you save making it just in the nick of time.
If you focus on the important parts of speaking – showing enthusiasm, engaging your audience and sharing meaningful information concisely – then you don’t need to aim for perfection.
In fact, I would argue that aiming for, say, 80% perfection will mean that you deliver something far more powerful instead: an experience that grabs people because it’s wonderfully human in all its imperfect, glory.
And therefore much more relevant.
‘Kintsugi’ is a more than 500-year-old Japanese tradition where broken ceramics are adorned with a lacquer mixed with powdered gold that highlights imperfections rather than hiding them. This not only teaches calm when a cherished piece of pottery breaks; it is a reminder of the beauty of human fragility as well. For the Japanese, it’s part of a broader philosophy of embracing the beauty of human flaws.
If you focus on the important parts of speaking – showing enthusiasm, engaging your audience and sharing meaningful information concisely – then you don’t need to aim for perfection.
Don’t just ‘give a presentation’. Speak to your audience.
Embrace your flaws.
Have fun.