Yitty Glauber of Modern Loft On How To Get Past Your Perfectionism And ‘Just Do It’
Feed your focus. Know that perfectionism has a way of keeping you focused on what might go wrong. It does not focus on everything that you’ve accomplished. It’s a good idea to keep a list of your wins. Harness the power of optimism and let the positivity push you forward.
Many successful people are perfectionists. At the same time, they have the ability to say “Done is Better Than Perfect” and just complete and wrap up a project. What is the best way to overcome the stalling and procrastination that perfectionism causes? How does one overcome the fear of potential critique or the fear of not being successful? In this interview series, called “How To Get Past Your Perfectionism And ‘Just Do It’, we are interviewing successful leaders who can share stories and lessons from their experience about “how to overcome the hesitation caused by perfectionism.
As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Yitty Glauber.
Yitty is the founder of Modern Loft, a direct to consumer brand that sells extraordinary modern home furniture. She champions innovative styles and loves to tell the stories behind them.
Modern Loft’s curation has been described as forward-thinking and aesthetically intriguing, with designs that are effortless and captivating, but not arrogant. These creative luxuries have a timeless aesthetic and will be relevant for many years to come.
Yitty established the company with the goal of offering a clearer and simpler buying process for the most beautiful and well-crafted furniture in the world. In an industry that has always been traditional, Modern Loft aims to modernize. Their pages are not only aesthetically appealing but also more visual, intuitive, and user-friendly. The brand was built for people who value both function and style.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we start, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood backstory?
Born and bred in Brooklyn, I was raised in a family of highly creative and independent people. Individuality and creativity were values that my mother championed. She appreciated great design and encouraged us to experience the simple joy of creating beautiful things, like setting an elegant table or wrapping a luxurious gift.
And so, I’ve always been creative at heart. As a kid, I undertook artistic roles which brought me great satisfaction and fulfillment. Much of this has led to the creative work I do today.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“Nothing is more expensive than a missed opportunity” H. Jackson Brown Junior.
Yes, change is hard, and failure can be very difficult to tolerate, but saddest of all are missed opportunities. It’s a thought that I carry with me every time the going gets tough. It’s easy to step back from difficult things and feel ‘safe’, but I never want to look back and regret a vision that could have been if I had only pushed harder.
Is there a particular book, podcast, or film that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?
The Compound Effect, by Darren Hardy, dramatically changed my outlook on discipline and still has an impact on my day-to-day schedule.
In the book, Hardy offers a stunning mathematical calculation on the value of time + consistency, by demonstrating how small and consistent efforts compound over time to bring dynamic results.
After reading this book I began to value the investment of every bit of time and effort. It’s easy to say “Well, 15 minutes is too short to accomplish anything worthwhile”, but we don’t realize that 15 minutes can multiply dramatically when invested consistently for a long time.
But can we stop for a moment on the idea of offering book recommendations?
Ask any person about their favorite book and they’ll be eager to recommend must-read titles that had a particularly strong impact on their life. However much of the reason for this has to do with that individual’s life experiences, personality, and current struggles, so while a book may have deeply inspired one person, it may not have the same life-altering impact on you.
Having said that, if you value productivity and want to accomplish great things but need that motivation, this book might be exactly what you need to read.
You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
- The ability to employ both creative AND organizational skills — There’s a stereotypical concept about right-brained and left-brained individuals. The theory implies that if you’re strong in one area, then you must be weak in the other. According to this thinking, there are only two types of people in the world; messy creatives and linear thinkers with uber-boring personalities.
Thankfully, my creative abilities have led me down a visual and intuitive career path of design and marketing. At the same time, I’ve always been fascinated by analytics, logic and systems. While I’ll always be a creative first, I could never give up those lists, spreadsheets and productivity apps!
Of course, being both creative and methodical has allowed me to create a vision for Modern Loft and then put the processes in place to see it through. - A belief in the process more than in the goal. — Creating a thriving business is a journey of questions and answers, of obstacles and accomplishments, and of confusion and clarity. At Modern Loft every obstacle has led to great learning experiences and that’s been empowering. Sometimes in searching for answers I’ll meet new people, which is very enriching. So I’d have to say that the process is more worthwhile than the end goal.
- Patience — Nothing great was ever created without a big vision that took months or years to achieve. I’ve learned to be ok with waiting for processes to smooth out and for small wins to compound into big ones, as long as we’re improving a little bit each day. Every small effort, including those that end in failure, is a small step that leads toward the eventual goal.
Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. Let’s begin with a definition of terms so that each of us and our readers are on the same page. What exactly is a perfectionist? Can you explain?
Simply put, a perfectionist is someone who believes that perfection is possible and will forever work toward achieving this unrealistic goal.
The premise of this interview series is making the assumption that being a perfectionist is not a positive thing. But presumably, seeking perfection can’t be entirely bad. What are the positive aspects of being a perfectionist? Can you give a story or example to explain what you mean?
There’s no doubt that aiming for perfection leads to better work and better outcomes. I think that every perfectionist on the planet understands that achieving extraordinary results comes from doing extraordinary work.
In my experience, demanding a high standard of performance leads to greater motivation and improved accuracy, and can produce things that are visually flawless and meticulous.
When we were first setting up our website I was guiding my assistants in creating product pages that would have the utmost visual clarity and the best user experience. As a result, we invested 5X the amount of time and money into the project than planned. But it was clearly worth it, as the end result is better and stronger than any of our competitors.
What are the negative aspects of being a perfectionist? Can you give a story or example to explain what you mean?
Unfortunately, perfectionism causes people to become a slave to an unattainable goal, and this constant struggle with failure subjects them to a lifetime of doubt and disappointment. In fact, this glass-half-full attitude just doesn’t give enough credit to everything that was achieved.
It’s the fast track to burnout, anxiety, and depression.
When things don’t go smoothly, I like to remind myself to focus on the bigger picture and concentrate on the many things that did go well. I’ve learned to appreciate failure. Failing is not a bad thing — as long as we’re “failing forward”.
From your experience or perspective, what are some of the common reasons that cause a perfectionist to “get stuck” and not move forward? Can you explain?
The irony of perfectionism is that although perfectionists might perform well, many of them will ultimately get stuck in a mediocre life. That’s because their aversion to failure makes them choose to play it safe.
As we know, real success requires risk. For the perfectionist, accepting failure is difficult. The truth is, failing is integral to the journey of growth.
I guess you can say that perfectionism is the ultimate self-defeating behavior.
Here is the central question of our discussion. What are the five things a perfectionist needs to know to get past their perfectionism and “just do it?” Please share a story or example for each.
- Understand the ROI of your time. Me, you, Warren Buffet — we’ve all got only 24 hours in a day. Luckily we can choose to use it wisely, but often we’re not spending our time well. Here’s an example of this. Say you’re working on a project that requires many hours of input. The first 60% of your time investment will yield the greatest results. In this segment of time, you might be doing research and creating the first draft. In the next 20%, you’ll be focusing on changes and touch-ups. This is also an important part of the project, but the ROI on your time has already significantly decreased. In the last 20%, you’re working on final touch-ups and scanning for errors. The perfectionist will put in 150% to get the kind of results that will meet their high standards. This extra 50% investment has a poor ROI. Consider it a waste of time, especially if you’ve got a lot of other things calling for your attention. It’s important to understand the ROI of your time so that you don’t fall into the trap of sacrificing productivity for perfectionism.
- Know the difference between high achievers and perfectionists. They might look the same but they’re not. The world has known many ambitious individuals who have big goals and invest lots of effort in reaching them. But there are also failure-avoiding perfectionists who seem to be just as driven. The first category of people are motivated by their goals. For the second, it’s the fear of imperfection that drives them. Ask yourself this question: What’s driving you?
- Avoid unrealistic comparisons. If you find yourself comparing your company of 10 people to a competitor that employs 700, you’re being unrealistic. Having unrealistic expectations of yourself is the quickest way to deflate your enthusiasm and slow you down. Don’t let unrealistic comparisons plague you with doubt and hesitation.
- Organize your priorities. A great way to stay focused and not get carried away by perfectionist tendencies is to draw up a list of priority tasks and set them in order of importance. I do this at the beginning of each week as well as at the beginning of each day. This will inform you on where to best allocate your time, effort, and resources. Sometimes we focus on tasks that might feed the perfectionist ego, while other tasks such as ones that will potentially increase revenue or prevent damage should be given priority. Avoid letting perfectionism get you stuck on things that shouldn’t be given so much attention.
- Feed your focus. Know that perfectionism has a way of keeping you focused on what might go wrong. It does not focus on everything that you’ve accomplished. It’s a good idea to keep a list of your wins. Harness the power of optimism and let the positivity push you forward.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?
Mindset is a powerful thing. I want to see more people overcome mindset limitations that prevent them from creating an extraordinary life.
Too many people are being held back by fear, are trapped by self-doubt, and are blinded by ignorance. We’re all conditioned to believe things about what we can or cannot achieve. I’d like to see more people develop a mindset that questions and challenges their childhood and cultural barriers.
Is there a person in the world whom you would love to have lunch with, and why? Maybe we can tag them and see what happens!
Andi Owen, the President and CEO of Herman Miller.
She leads 8,000 team members and managed $2.49 billion in revenue (in fiscal 2020). Previously she’s been the global president of Banana Republic and led 11,000 employees in over 600 stores across 27 countries.
Andi is soft-natured yet provides strong leadership. I certainly have a lot to learn from her on how to guide a team towards a vision and how to help others shine.
How can our readers follow you online?
Visit the Modern Loft website of course! where you can browse extraordinary modern home furniture.
You can also come chat with me! I hang out here:
Thank you so much for sharing these important insights. We wish you continued success and good health!
