Everything has to be perfect. I can’t make mistakes. Failing is unacceptable. I have to be perfect.
While there are many variations to only perfection will do, the perfectionist mindset creates this reality: Before you even swing your legs out of bed in the morning and put your feet on the floor, you know you’re going to come up short.
Because perfection isn’t possible to attain—and even if it were for a short-lived moment, it would be impossible to sustain.
If you’re a perfectionist, who does that mindset cause you to be? Who does it prevent you from being?
As a recovering perfectionist, I can answer these:
- A perfectionist mindset causes me to be stressed, impatient, rigid, fearful, demanding, discontent.
- A perfectionist mindset prevents me from being relaxed, compassionate with myself and others, truly present, adventurous, satisfied, grateful.
Hand in hand with perfectionism often comes procrastination because the heavy burden of having to do things perfectly makes it difficult to even get started.
Perfectionism. Procrastination. These are killers of possibility.
Feel the difference between Everything has to be perfect and Done is better than perfect.
Or between I have to be perfect and Good enough is perfection.
If you were to embrace good enough is perfection—how does that change what’s possible?
