On perfectionism November 23, 2015 – Posted in: Advice, Confidence – Tags: failure, perfectionism
Hello Jo! A lot of us struggle with perfectionism – especially around creative projects, and it can get in the way of us finishing (sometimes even starting!) projects… Any advice on how to handle that?
I think perfectionism is a BIG subject with a very simple solution once we can see what’s really going on.
Perfectionism is the manifestation of fear; fear of not being good enough, fear of getting is wrong, fear that someone else might do better or think that we’re somehow flawed. The weird thing is that when we listen to perfectionism we then prove these fears right by not starting the thing we need to do and therefore failing. We literally set ourselves up to fail.
The other thing to know about perfectionism is that it whispers to you that you don’t have it. I remember one of my closet friends saying once, “I can’t be a perfectionist; I’m not perfect enough!”
Non-perfectionists wouldn’t say this because they know that perfection is a silly, unattainable thing to aim for.
So, how to stop? Practice entertaining the opposite thought and taking the opposite action. This means telling yourself that your best is good enough (and, actually, all you have) and then DOING your best and accepting the results.
We were never meant to be perfect. We were never meant to even try to be perfect. We were meant to just do our best in each moment.
You, in all your imperfections, are just right!