Have you ever felt completely stuck, unable to move forward on something that matters to you?

Maybe you’ve been sitting on a big idea, avoiding launching your business, hesitating to post that blog, or holding back from speaking up in a meeting. You tell yourself you just need a little more time, a little more preparation, a little more confidence.

But deep down, you know what’s really happening.

You’re not waiting for the perfect moment. You’re paralyzed by perfectionism.

Perfectionism isn’t just about having high standards. It’s a deep, unconscious survival strategy. When we obsess over getting it right, what we’re really doing is trying to control the outcome—trying to protect ourselves from rejection, failure, and criticism.

But here’s the problem: Perfectionism doesn’t actually make our work better. It just keeps us from putting it out into the world at all.

It keeps us in a cycle of endless overthinking, self-doubt, and procrastination.

I see it all the time. I see brilliant, capable, high-achieving women **not launching the product, not sharing their voice, not stepping into leadership, not saying what they truly want in their relationships—**all because they are waiting for some elusive moment of certainty, clarity, and readiness.

And guess what? That moment never comes.

Instead, the cost of perfectionism piles up. We waste our most precious resources—**our time, energy, creativity, and joy—**on tweaking, revising, and spinning in self-doubt.

We are literally putting ourselves into a cognitive freeze and a nervous system shutdown when we try so hard to get it right. The energy we spend perfecting, over-editing, and spinning in self-doubt is energy that could be moving us forward. Done is better than perfect. Messy action is the only way to get unstuck and unstoppable.

I know this struggle firsthand.

I had the idea for my online course, Unstuck and Unstoppable, three years ago—and for three years, I overthought every detail. I obsessed over what to include, how to structure it, where to host it, how to market it.

Was it the perfect balance of teaching and self-exploration?
Did it have enough value?
Was it my absolute best work?

And because I wanted it to be just right, I didn’t launch it at all.

Then one day, I finally let go. I dumped my ideas into ChatGPT (yes, really), got an outline back in minutes, and realized I could have had this course out years ago.

That’s the power of messy action.

4 Ways to Get Unstuck from Perfectionism

1. Redefine Success - Success isn’t about perfection. It’s about progress. It’s about impact. Done is better than perfect. Growth is better than flawless execution. Start seeing success as the courage to show up, not the illusion of getting it all right.

2. Take Messy Action (and Regulate Your Nervous System) - Nothing will ever be perfect, but the only way to get better is to start. Post the thing. Launch the offer. Have the conversation. And while you're at it, support your nervous system—breathe, move, meditate. Your body needs to feel safe in the discomfort of growth.

3. Trust Yourself - You already have everything you need inside you. Your lived experience, wisdom, and intuition are more than enough. You don’t need another certification or another year of preparation. You just need to trust yourself enough to begin.

4. Embrace Imperfection as Growth - Your mistakes, missteps, and messy first drafts aren’t failures. They are necessary steps to success. Every single person you admire started somewhere, and usually, they started out messy. The sooner you embrace that, the faster you’ll move forward.

If perfectionism has been keeping you stuck, this is your invitation to break free. What’s one thing you can take messy action on today?

The world doesn’t need you to be perfect. It just needs you to show up. Messy, brilliant, and all.

Take care of yourself and there for each other!

XO, Brooke Jean