Does this sound like anyone you know?
You don’t think of yourself as a perfectionist. You strive for greatness in the things you do and have all your life, but don’t expect or reach for perfection. You recognize it’s an impossible achievement. You pay attention to the details but not as well as some people. You want your presentations and work to be excellent but recognize the return on efforts when the time comes. Your clothes are steamed but not perfectly pressed. Your hair is done but not without an untamable wave.
And also.
There are things you didn’t do. If you weren’t sure you could craft the perfect email/message, you didn’t send it. If you weren’t positive you could convey in video perfectly what you wanted, the video didn’t get made. If you didn’t believe you were 100% qualified for the job you didn’t apply.
Sneaky perfectionism. It was hiding. It didn’t show up in the ways it does for “others.” It doesn’t show up in the things you do. It shows up in the things you don’t do.
This was me.
And I didn’t “just do it” the way Tony Robbins probably would have liked. I didn’t simply overcome the fear the way the motivational speakers & books tell you to. I did it but in a practicing way. Take videos. I used to record 5 min videos about 10x before 1 was ready to post. Now, I’m at 2 takes. Of course, I got better but I also realized the time was better used elsewhere. The importance I’d attached to posting the perfect video decreased. So, in some ways I did “just do it” but I didn’t go about it the way “they” tell you. And that’s just grand. Why? Because movement is better than standing still.
Can you see your sneaky perfectionism? How is it in your way? How will you tame yours?
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