Knock Perfectionism Off Its Pedestal
Can I tell you a secret?
I’m an impatient perfectionist.
Trying new things can be intimidating, and if something doesn’t come naturally to me in the first few minutes of attempting it, I’m already contemplating abandoning it forever and never looking back.
I know I’m not alone.
I know that you’ve hesitated, procrastinated, or even talked yourself out of something entirely because the fear of not doing it perfectly has completely crushed you. You stick to the skills you know inside and out; you thrive in your areas of expertise that others come to you for guidance on. This makes you feel good, successful, and valuable.
It also keeps you feeling comfortable.
While comfort zones are famous for being cozy, there’s not much room for growth inside that small, safe box. And yet you stay, because the pressure to be perfect outside of that box is too overwhelming.
So when did Absolute Perfection become a bare-minimum standard we set for ourselves?
If I had to take a guess, it’s somewhere between “the dawn of time” — where women have never been given much room to be less than perfect at the tasks assigned to them by society — and “the domination of social media” — where the curated, aesthetically perfect feeds of other people’s lives make us feel less than on a minute-to-minute basis. The pressure of perfection has always existed. But more importantly, it is a pressure placed on us by society that we have adopted for ourselves.
We glorify Perfection. We idolize it and aspire to it without even questioning what it means (what does it mean?!).
It’s time to knock perfectionism off its pedestal and value growth over flawlessness. It’s time to rebuild the framework of success in your mind to prioritize the journey of progress over the destination of Perfection.
When you strive to be, not just perfect, but instantly perfect always, you set an unrealistic and unattainable expectation. Although social media has attempted (and nearly succeeded) to convince you this is possible, reason begs for your attention:
How can you possibly be instantly perfect at something without trying, practicing, and even failing a little first?! This doesn’t add up.
Quiet the noise of social media — and good ol’ fashioned society in general— and give rational thought the mic for a change.
Unfollow Perfection for a while. Maybe even Unfriend it. Because your new bestie is Progress, and quality time with her should be your new priority.
Before, Perfection had you fixating on an End Game with no realistic road map of how to get there (Spoiler alert: You can’t reach a destination that doesn’t exist).
Now, the road map itself is the priority, and the fulfillment is in traveling it step by step, day by day. This is where the meat of life is, Beauty. Not in angsting over why you’re not “There” yet, but rather in enjoying the dirt on your hands, the sweat on your brow, the mud on your boots as you build and walk that road map towards your goals.
Lean in to the process of growth, which organically leads to improvement over time. The journey is the most beautiful, desirable part of your story.
Can you imagine taking a road trip through the most scenic, breathtaking place you’ve ever been and deciding to close your eyes because you think the destination will be prettier? No?
Then don’t close your eyes through this magnificent, winding road that is your life!
Your beginning may have been written by someone else, and you can’t possibly predict the ending, but you can savor the meat in the middle that is penned entirely by you.
Once you’ve decided to recalibrate your measurements of success, the potential for growth in your own life is off the charts! You’ll no longer be quitting before you even begin. You’ll no longer be judging yourself for your perceived “shortcomings” that are just a natural part of any learning curve.
Instead, you’ll be measuring to see if you’re one step further along than you were yesterday. If you are, that one step is called progress.
And that, my friend, is a step in a powerful direction.