Lena had spent years dreaming of opening her own bakery. She had the perfect name, Sweet Haven, and had studied every detail—from the ideal oven temperature for croissants to the exact shade of blue for the walls. She spent months testing recipes, tweaking ingredients by a fraction of a gram, making sure every detail was flawless.
But there was one problem. The bakery never opened.
Every time she got close, something wasn’t “quite right.” The logo needed a redesign. The website could be better. The menu had to be absolutely perfect before she could share it with the world. Days turned into weeks. Weeks into months. Meanwhile, rent was due, and the savings she’d carefully built up were running out.
One morning, Lena walked by a new coffee shop down the street. It had a simple sign, a handwritten menu, and the floors weren’t quite finished. But inside, it was buzzing with customers, the smell of fresh espresso filling the air. It wasn’t perfect. But it was open.
That was her wake-up call.
Perfection had become her cage, keeping her from taking the leap. That day, she made a decision. The menu was good enough. The website could be fixed later. The walls? No one would care.
Two weeks later, Sweet Haven opened its doors—not perfect, but real. And as the first customers walked in, Lena realised that progress beats perfection every single time.
Lesson: If you wait for perfect, you’ll be waiting forever. Start now. Improve as you go.
