Most of us have have at least one area of life where we're perfectionists. It might show up in your work, your relationships, or even your personal chores. It might even show up in all three areas!
Unfortunately, most perfectionists believe it helps them succeed. But it doesn't.
The Problem With Perfectionism
Perfectionism holds you back. Being a perfectionist will:
- make you less likely to try new things or take a risk;
- decrease your ability to think creatively; and
- make it more difficult to learn and grow as a person.
And it can damage your self-confidence, your mental health, and your relationships. Moreover, it creates lots of stress and anxiety. This is why it's so important to adopt some mental shifts to help you ditch perfectionism.
How to Overcome Perfectionism
To help you let go of perfectionism, do the following:
1. Remind yourself that perfection isn't necessary. Life doesn't need to be perfect to be beautiful or enjoyable and success doesn't require perfection. To help you remember this, look to people you admire that are successful (and that aren't perfectionists). And look to nature - there's plenty of beautiful imperfection out there.
2. Test your perfectionist tendencies (and see what happens). Instead of obsessing over every email, send it after ONE quick proof-reading. If you're addicted to details, leave some of them out of your next report, meeting, or status call (summarize instead). Then see what happens. It's likely nothing bad will occur (and even if it does, it won't be as bad as you feared).
3. Challenge your thoughts. Whenever you notice yourself having perfectionist thoughts, ask yourself how reasonable they are, what "rules" or beliefs you have that are contributing to these thoughts, and how these thoughts and rules/beliefs are helping you. This will pull out the irrational thoughts that are getting in your way. And then choose what you want to believe. You have the ability to override your natural tendencies and create new thoughts - it just takes consistent practice.
It's time to stop trying to chase after perfectionism and instead start enjoying your life more, don't you think? Use the three tips above to get started.
A Special Note on Holiday Perfectionism
It's confession time: I'm a recovering perfectionist myself. I know the strategies above work because I've researched the "how to" and used them in my own life.
And one of the biggest areas where perfectionism crops up for me is at the holidays. I call it holiday perfectionism.
Holiday perfectionism is when you try to create the "perfect" holiday experience yet end up draining the joy right out of you, your family, and your holiday.
Once you've read the article, I'd LOVE to hear from you! Give me a comment in the blog or hit reply to this email and tell me how you're going to start letting go of perfectionism this holiday season.
Until next time...
