The Perfectionism Trap for ADHD Business Women (Choose Good Enough)

If you keep waiting until everything is perfect, your ideas will stay in your head and never show up in your bank account.

If you're an ADHD businesswoman, you probably know this in your bones. You have a million ideas, five half-finished offers, and a camera roll full of drafts you never post. You care a lot, you think deeply, and you want your work to be excellent. Yet perfectionism keeps turning your effort into delay instead of income.

You're not lazy. You're not broken. You're stuck in a pattern that quietly blocks your money.

In this guide, you will see why “good enough” isn't settling, why it actually fits your ADHD brain better, and how to finally hit publish, sell, and get paid without burning yourself out.

If you need someone in your corner join my Facebook group, Executive Function Support for Women. I will be your cheerleader.

Why Waiting for Perfect Keeps Your Ideas Stuck

As a woman with ADHD, you may think in very black‑and‑white terms. If something isn't amazing, it feels like trash. If you can't do it “right,” you'd rather not start at all.

That all‑or‑nothing thinking shows up in sneaky ways that look like work, but actually block progress. For example:

• You tweak the same sales page for three months.
• You plan a podcast, buy the mic, outline the episodes, then never launch.
• You re‑record the same 30‑second reel ten times.
• You rewrite one simple email for hours.

Your brain registers these as effort, so you feel tired and “busy.” But your business doesn't see the payoff, because nothing makes it out the door.

If this feels familiar, it might help to see how other ADHD women experience the mix of giftedness, creativity, and perfectionism. You can read more about that in this article on how ADHD and perfectionism overlap for women entrepreneurs.

For a moment, pause and be honest with yourself: What money is sitting in your draft folder or Google Drive right now because you are waiting for it to be perfect?

Person A vs. Person B: Perfect Later Loses to Good Enough Now

To make this real, picture two different business women.

Person A spends three full months building “the perfect” course. She keeps tweaking the slides, redoing the workbook, changing the colors, and rewriting the lessons. She might launch it once, and then she's exhausted and over it.

Person B spends one week creating a messy beta version of her course. She keeps it simple, opens the doors, gets five paying customers, delivers it live, gathers feedback, improves it, and then launches again.

Same basic idea. Very different result.

Here is how that plays out.

Person A (Chasing Perfect)	Person B (Choosing Good Enough)
Spends months building alone	Spends one week building a beta version
Tweaks, redesigns, overthinks	Launches quickly with a clear, simple promise
Maybe launches once, or never	Gets 5 paying customers right away
Has no real feedback from buyers	Hears real feedback like “this part helped, but I need more of this”
Loses interest and energy before momentum kicks in	Improves the offer, relaunches, and makes more money each round

An ADHD brain loves quick wins, feedback, and movement. When you demand perfection, you stretch every project out. You delay the dopamine hit your brain is craving. You drain your motivation before you ever see results.

When you choose “good enough,” you:

• Get a faster hit of progress.
• Collect real data from real people.
• Stay interested long enough to improve the thing and sell it again.

This is the same idea you see in the startup world when people talk about MVPs and iterations. If you want another way to look at it, check out this article on overcoming perfectionism by thinking iteratively and launching smaller first.

Here is the key takeaway: you can only improve what exists. You cannot fix, refine, or optimize something that never leaves your notebook or your Google Drive.

What “Good Enough” Really Means

Choosing “good enough” doesn't mean you drop your standards or stop caring. It means you set a different bar for version one.

For your content, offers, and systems, good enough means:

• Clear enough that someone can understand it and buy.
• Helpful enough that they can get results or a real win.
• Safe enough that you are not harming anyone.

You can always improve something that exists. You can update a lesson, tighten a script, redo a video, or expand a PDF. But none of that happens if you never hit publish.

Now let’s look at three areas in your business where choosing good enough will put money in your bank account faster.

The 3 Places to Choose Good Enough and Make More Money

You don't have to overhaul everything at once. Focus on three key areas: your content, your offers, and your systems.

1. Content: Stop Refilming and Start Posting

People aren't looking for a movie‑level video with studio lighting and perfect hair. They want something honest and clear that helps them right now.

You see proof of this every day on TikTok and Instagram. There are people filming on their phones in their cars, and they're selling out offers and signing clients.

Use a simple checklist to decide if a piece of content is good enough to post. Ask yourself:

• Can they hear you clearly?
• Can they see your face or a clear visual?
• Is the main point obvious in the first three seconds?
• Do you tell them what to do next? (Follow, share, click the link, buy, etc.)

If you can say yes to those, your job is to post it. Not to refilm because a hair is out of place. Not to rewrite the caption ten times. Not to delete it because your background isn't perfect.

You probably don't care if someone is wearing makeup while you listen to their advice. You care that they're helping you. Your audience feels the same way about you.

If you want more practical ideas on how to keep content creation doable with ADHD, this guide on creating consistent content with ADHD using simple tactics and tools can give you extra structure.

2. Offers: Sell Simple Before You Build Big

You already know enough to help someone. You don't need a 12‑module, fully recorded, beautifully edited course to start making money.

The “perfect” curriculum can wait. The money can't.

Start with the smallest, simplest version of your offer that still helps your client get a clear win.

Some examples:

• Run a 3‑week live series instead of building a giant 12‑module course.
• Host a paid monthly workshop instead of building a full membership from day one.
• Share a simple PDF or Google Doc instead of a designed 30‑page workbook.

When you do this, you aren't being sloppy. You're getting real‑time information about your audience. You get to hear what they ask, where they get stuck, and what they say they “wish they had more of.”

For example, when a small membership is launched quietly to an email list, you might start with only a few courses inside. As members go through the content and work with you, they'll tell you what they need more support with. That feedback might even change the order you planned to teach things in the first place.

They feel more supported, because you're actually listening instead of guessing.

And you can't get that kind of clarity if you never launch. You just stay alone with your Google Docs and your overthinking.

If perfectionism sneaks in here, you might like this story about how a marketer realized that “good enough is better than perfect” when finishing emails and trainings. It is a quick read and shows how tiny tweaks turn into big delays. You can read it here: Good Enough is Better Than Perfect.

3. Systems and Routines: Build Something You Can Actually Follow

You can watch a hundred “perfect morning routine” videos, color‑coded Notion setups, and productivity hacks. If those routines are not built for your ADHD brain, they won't stick and you'll feel awful when you “fail” them.

You don't need a Pinterest‑worthy system. You need something that works for you on your worst day.

Your business needs a repeatable way to:

• Collect leads.
• Talk to those leads.
• Sell your offers.
• Deliver the work.

Start at the lowest possible level, then build up once it feels steady.

Try this simple structure:

1. Content system
   Pick one or two platforms. Commit to two or three posts a week. Take one idea and reuse it in different formats over time. A long video can turn into a blog post, later into YouTube shorts, and then into newsletter content. You don't have to create all of that in the same week. You stack it.
2. Lead system
   Put one clear link in your bio. Have one main offer that you talk about everywhere. Create a simple “Work with me” page or service page so people know what you do and how to pay you.
3. Follow‑up system
   Pick one day a week to reply to DMs, answer emails, and check in with clients. Treat it like an appointment with your future money.

If you try to do “all the things” every day, you burn out or never launch anything because you're too busy juggling. Start with the easiest repeatable system. Once it's working and it doesn't feel stressful, then you can add more.

There is no one perfect system. There is only the system that you'll actually use.

How to Escape the Perfectionism Trap Today

When you catch yourself stuck in editing, tweaking, or “just one more change,” use one simple question:

“What does good enough look like for today so this can go out the door?”

Action isn't complete until another human being can see it or buy it. A drafted post is not helping anyone. A never‑sent email will not book clients. A private sales page can't bring in payments.

Use this three‑step process to break out of the loop.

1. Lower the scope
   Take the project and cut it in half. Then cut it again if you need to. Instead of “finish my whole course,” make today’s job “outline the first module and write the sales email,” or even “write the first draft of the sales email.”
2. Set a timer
   Give yourself 25 minutes. During that time, your job is to get to a full, messy draft. When the timer rings, fix only what's needed so your point is clear and your offer makes sense. No extra polishing.
3. Send it
   Post the content. Send the email. Hit publish on the sales page. Make the offer to the person who asked. Your only goal is to get it in front of another human.

Your brain might start yelling “But what if they judge me? What if no one buys? What if they think I am messy?” That's normal. It means you care. It does not mean you should stop.

Facing the Fear of Being Seen as Messy

Many ADHD women grew up hearing that they were “too much,” “too loud,” “too emotional,” or “not trying hard enough.” When you carry those old messages into business, you may feel like every offer is a test of your worth.

So your mind spins:

• What if they see that I'm messy?
• What if no one buys?
• What if they think I'm not professional?

Here is the truth you need to keep coming back to:

• Mistakes are proof that you're in the game.
• A post that flops still beats a post that never exists.
• A “meh” offer can get better once a real client gives you feedback.

The person who is willing to be seen as imperfect will win over time. You'll be the one collecting real data, not guessing. You can pivot, adjust, and give your people what they actually need.

Write this line down where you can see it: “Money responds to action, not to my imaginary perfect vision.”

There is no finish line where you feel “perfect enough” to start. There is only the next action you are willing to take while feeling scared and imperfect.

Your People Need Consistent You, Not Flawless You

Your clients don't need a flawless version of you. They need someone who shows up and keeps showing up.

Good enough isn't about dropping your standards. It's about letting your work actually earn the money it's already capable of earning.

Your people care far more about how you help them than about how polished you look while you do it.

Your Action Step: Pick One Thing and Send It

Don't turn this into another “great idea” you never act on. Take one small action today.

1. Pick one thing that has been sitting on your to‑do list because you're waiting for it to be perfect. A post, a sales page, an offer, a podcast episode, a reel, an email. Just one.
2. Set a 25‑minute timer.
3. Make it good enough and send it.

When you do, come back and say “I sent it” in the comments, or tell a friend you trust. Let someone celebrate you for moving.

And if you know another ADHD businesswoman who is stuck in perfectionism and leaving money in her drafts, share this with her. Good enough might be the permission she needs to stop hiding and start getting paid.