The biggest pitfalls in business aren't the obvious ones. The ones you see. The ones you are prepared for. The ones that have your guard up.

The most painfu ones — that can really delay (or even destroy) your business — are the ones you can't even see. That fly under your radar. That come disguised at virtues. When they are really vices.

The ones that cloak themselves as goals to shoot for. When in reality they are torpedos that can shoot your business down.

And one of the most insidious. And destructive is called …

… The "High Standards" Trap. 

Its especially dangerous for folks just getting their dream of a profitable business off the ground. But it can also attach itself to you at the precise time your business is most vulnerable. And it usually takes the form of:

"I would really like to launch my …"

• Product
• Opt-in Freebie
• New webiste
• Live event

"… but I can't right now because what I have so far is not up to my high standards."

That's what we're supposed to do right? The pursuit of excellence, right? Knocking it out of the park, right? Wrong.

Now I'm not saying you should purposely tank your next offer. Or just throw it out there on a whim.

• Yes, its better to produce good stuff instead of crap.
• Yes, there are specific instances where it pays to take extra time to make sure your stuff is as good as it can be.
• Yes, you want to give your customers and clients the best you can.

The problem is, while you're fixated on yourself. Stuck on your standards:

• Someone you could have helped has given up on their dream
• Someone you could have helped start their own business, had to go back and get a job.
• Someone you could have helped find their sweetheart spent another night alone.

And (this one hurts in the wallet): Someone who would have bought YOUR product, just went and bought someone else's.

See, your market doesn't care about your standards. They need help. And they need it now. And they aren't willing to wait until your offer is "up to your standards" before they get it.

And the real tragedy is, what they will go ahead and buy probably isn't half as good as the offering that "wasn't up to your standards".

Because here is the secret truly successful people have learned about high standards:

Good enough is good enough. Done is better than perfect.

Because strange as it sounds (and quite the opposite of what you've been told) the more successful you become, the more the world speeds up. The LESS time you seem to have. And the more you realize impossibly high standards are a luxury you simply can't afford. And a trap that only delays your goal of a thriving business.

Does this mean you abandon the drive to be your best? Hardly. Does this mean when your product has functional flaws that make it nearly impossible to use, you ship it anyway? No. It also doesn't mean that you should stop your drive for continual improvement.

What it does mean is, to grow your business, its crucial to know how to infuse the highest standards possible into everything you do. On the fly. To stop setting the bar so impossibly high, nothing ever gets done.  And to continue to improve your products and offerings AFTER they are released.

Because when it comes to having a profitable business that actually ships products to customers who need them, momentum trumps perfection every time.

And that needless perfectionism often stops you from creating something extraordinary.

And finally, here's one other crucial truth. That might sting a little bit:

In many (even most) cases, high standards are really a smoke screen behind which you hide your fear of failure. Of rejection. Of not being good enough. Yes its true — one more revision may make your offer better. But be careful:  Because when your drive for improvement is really masking a terror of getting your product out there … the excuses and delays never end.

So while you just decided (again) NOT to release your product, I made $30,000 … and helped 50 people … because I went ahead and released mine.

So … if you truly want to grow your business (and actually help people, instead of merely saying you want to help them), learn to set deadlines. And when the deadline comes, get your stuff out there. Learn that you can't change anyone's life unless you ship. And get comfortable with people saying you changed their life with stuff you thought was far from perfect.

Because its not about you and your high standards. Its about doing the best you can. And when the deadline comes, getting your stuff out there. And changing someone's life.

Because the funny thing about perfect is: The faster you try to approach it, the faster it runs away from you. Don't be the business that never launches because you were chasing that rabbit.

And yes, you guessed it:  I got this blog post out there. When it was far from perfect. And lived to tell about it.