Do you take the words, “you’re such a perfectionist” to heart and are thankful for the “compliment”? What if I told you you shouldn’t be so quick to look at it as a compliment?
Prior to learning more about perfectionism and how it relates to a high performance lifestyle, I would have been thankful for someone telling me I was perfect. However, being perfect is actually more debilitating to our performance than gratifying.
Perfectionism is not attainable; it will never leave us satisfied. Success alone will never be enough. The definition of perfection is always changing, for every person and in every situation, which leaves us falling short with knowing when we have reached success and gratification.
When you focus on reaching perfection you become trapped and paralyzed by the fear that you're going to do the wrong thing; that things aren't going to turn out that perfectly.
Constantly striving for perfection begins to suck the joy out of the process of hard work and the satisfaction of a job well done. Wanting to do well and succeed in everything you do is amazing - keep doing that- but let go of the need for perfection.
As high performing business women and men, we are all interested in reaching our highest potential. But reaching our highest potential does not mean perfection. It means working hard, putting in our best effort, keeping an open mind, and learning from our mistakes. It means being satisfied with our hard work AS WELL AS our shortcomings. It is within making mistakes that we go through the most learning. It is also within these areas of things not going perfectly that we have the most amount of growth and development.
The harsh truth is, striving for perfection is setting yourself up for failure. When you allow yourself to believe that perfection is not the only way, nor is it a realistic way, you will never succeed and flourish into the business professional that you want to be.
Learning how to grow into a high performing business woman or man can take time and dedication. It is not something that comes easily or even with reading up on it. It takes dedication to yourself and releasing vulnerable traits such as perfectionism. Learn how we can work together to help you grow from your perfectionism into a high performing aspect by clicking here.
I want to share with you 3 tips on how you can begin to break free of the chains of perfectionism.
Take ownership of your perfectionist ways. Begin to recognize the areas you try hard to reach perfection in and journal about them. Journaling and reflecting is the first step to taking ownership and therefore the first step to releasing ego gracefully and honestly.
Evaluate your work ethics and standards and decide how you will be satisfied reaching the standards you have for yourself without overshooting your self-evaluation. Knowing what you expect of yourself in a realistic standard will give you more grace.
Taking ownership and believing in yourself allows you to remain focused on your goals with a realistic outlook. Focus on your work but do not dwell on the results. Remain realistic, work hard, and trust your abilities.
Allow yourself the grace to understand that perfect is not reality. Grasp that and believe it and I guarantee you that your hard work will begin to grow into an abundant of positive ways because you will begin to believe in yourself and in your work again. Rather than scrutinizing it.
In what areas do you think you are trying to be perfect in? Make a list and begin to chip away at that perfectionism one day at a time.
To learn more about the perfectionist trap, how to work your way out of it, and details about the above three tips, listen to my podcast episode from November 21 titled, “Are You Stuck in the Perfectionist Trap?”
