I can ask that question—have you made peace with imperfection?—because I’m a recovering perfectionist myself.
And frankly, my desire to make things “perfect” have made for a whole lot of wasted time and lost sleep. Can you relate?
It’s no secret that striving for perfection sets us up for disappointment, frustration, and strained relationships, making a fuller, happier life much harder to find. And it can rear its ugly head in myriad subtle ways.
Let’s take a look at three common perfectionist behaviors and the resulting consequences:
- Behavior: You take on projects and refuse to empower others because you know you’ll get it done right.
- Result: You feel stressed and exhausted as you simultaneously take opportunities from those around you.
- Behavior: You struggle to prioritize because everything appears to have equal weight.
- Result: You miss deadlines and lose allies as you constantly review and revise.
- Behavior: You add too much value to unsolicited advice and opinions because you want to make X perfect.
- Result: You cause others to feel pressured, unappreciated, or reduced.
If you’re energetically nodding your head right now, I encourage you to explore my new online course, Your Life. Your Terms. I’ve included an entire module on overcoming perfectionist behaviors that hold us back, with exercises to help you spend less time trying to fix yourself and those around you and more time (you guessed it) living life on your terms.
Enrollment is only open now through Friday, Oct. 26, so I hope you’ll join me before then.
Perfect is boring anyway, friends. Let’s make peace with imperfection.
Rooting for you,
Regan
