Perfection is not achievable, but excellence is.
Striving for perfection in your LNC business may be holding you back from serving your clients. There’s an extreme difference between striving for excellence and perfection.
Defining Perfectionism
Perfectionism is the tendency to hold oneself to excessively high standards, often leading to overthinking and a fear of making mistakes.
While striving for excellence is commendable, perfectionism can hinder efficiency and productivity. It can result in over-analysis, spending too much time on minor details, and never feeling satisfied with the work produced.
The perfectionist does things over and over and over again. The end product is never good enough. Therefore, the LNC runs the risk of missing deadlines.
Or, the perfectionist completes the report for the attorney but bills the attorney for an unreasonable number of hours. The attorney is pleased with the work product but horrified by the bill.
In striving for perfection, all we can do is fail and alienate our clients. In striving for excellence, we move forward, gain ground, and analyze what we can do better next time. It’s a growth process. Perfectionism and procrastination become very tightly linked.
Do you want to be a non-starter? Or do you want your company’s growth to be stalled? Do you strive to become perfect while your competitors take on your potential clients?
3 Examples of Perfectionism in LNC:
- Over-editing reports: An LNC may spend excessive time revising a report, constantly changing minor details to ensure it’s “perfect.” This can delay the submission of crucial documents and increase stress.
- Obsessing minor details in medical records: While thoroughness is essential, an LNC may get bogged down by irrelevant information or spend excessive time analyzing a small, insignificant part of the records. This can detract from focusing on the case’s bigger picture and main issues.
- Fear of delegating tasks: A perfectionist LNC might refuse to delegate tasks such as scheduling or organizing documents because they fear others won’t meet their high standards. This results in burnout and prevents them from focusing on the core aspects of their role.
How to Avoid Perfectionism as an LNC:
- Set realistic expectations: Not every task needs to be done perfectly. Prioritize high-impact tasks that require your full attention and avoid over-investing time in minor details that won’t affect the case outcome.
- Limit revisions: Limit the number of revisions you will allow for reports or other deliverables. For example, decide to review a report no more than three times before submitting it. This forces you to move forward rather than getting stuck in a cycle of constant improvement.
- Embrace delegation and collaboration: Trusting colleagues, assistants, or team members to handle specific tasks frees up time and mental energy. Learn to let go of tasks that don’t require your specialized expertise so that you can focus on more critical aspects of your consulting business.
Conclusion
Perfectionism can hinder the growth of a Legal Nurse Consultant’s business. By recognizing the signs and implementing strategies to combat these tendencies, LNCs can streamline their workflow, reduce stress, and provide better client services.
Remember that progress and consistent effort often yield better results than striving for unattainable perfection or avoiding work altogether.
In my book, How to Start a Legal Nurse Consulting Business: Book 1 in the “Creating a Successful LNC Practice Series” you will learn in greater detail how to recognize and avoid procrastination.
You can get it by clicking here.
Pat Iyer is president of The Pat Iyer Group, which develops resources to assist LNCs in obtaining more clients, making more money, and achieving their business goals and dreams.
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