09/22/2022
This small but powerful phrase has been a recurring theme in my life as of late, and I just wanted to remind you of it, too.
We live in a fast paced, goal oriented world. It's often hard to keep up with not only our friends, family and hobbies, but especially our goals. We're overwhelmed and fatigued with the amount of things we have going on at one time. All with this hidden pressure to be perfect at all of it.
Let me just start by saying that I can only speak from my perspective. Maybe you don't struggle with perfectionism. Or maybe you do, but you've gotten it under control. If that's you, well, congrats! I don't. LOL.
There's a lot of things I want to do, create and share in my life, that often never leave my brain. Even writing this article right now, I'm tempted to delete everything I've typed so far and keep this all in my private journal. Because who am I to talk on perfection? Who am I to talk on anything? I'm not a researcher or traditionally educated in any way, so what makes me qualified to write this? Also there's hundreds of other people who have shared on these topics already, what if I'm just repeating what I heard from someone else?
These questions haunt me. Maybe you can relate. But then I remind myself, PROGRESS OVER PERFECTION. Baby steps before you cross the finish line. I can never be a great writer if I don't write.. ya know? I have to start.
Another way this has been showing up in my life is in my diet and lifestyle choices. I used to put so much pressure on myself, allowing no space for failure. Telling myself I had to read, meditate, journal, practice spanish, do yoga, and eat no sugar every day, and if I didn't, I'm a failure. So obviously since I can't do all of that with 100% success rate EVERY day, I failed. I'd then feel like I'd have to start back at square one.
Recently however, I've been a lot more lose with my expectations of these goals. I still have the same goals, but if I don't do everything one day, I don't beat myself up. I don't start over. I don't shame myself. I celebrate the fact that I even took one step that day.
Doing yoga 3 times a week, is better than no times a week. Meditating for 5 minutes a day, is better than no minutes a day. And writing one new article a month, is better than writing none.
I've also been easier on myself with the quality of what I produce. Instead of battling the universe and time itself, spending way too much energy trying to perfect something, I do the very best I can on something, step back and see if it's a least 80% perfect. If it is, I move on.
I personally notice that the more time I spend forcing something that's not working, the more frustrated I get, and the less things work for my favor.
For example, I spent 8 hours editing my last YouTube video, and was so happy with how it turned out. The app I was using decided it wasn't going to let me save it. Instead of trouble shooting for an hour, and then resorting to screen recording it at a much lower quality, I did the most chaotic thing possible. That night, I spent over two hours, trying to figure out ways to save it, updating the app, my phone, freeing up storage, changing out clips, clearing the cache and drafts, googling help, LITERALLY EVERYTHING. Nothing worked. I went to bed much later than I wanted to. I woke up at 3 am, ANXIOUS about the video, and spent 1.5 hours in the middle of the night trying more trouble shooting. I woke up and spent another hour in the morning, to eventually end up screen recording it, and posting it.
All of that to say, I spent nearly 5 hours, trying to make something perfect, only to end up with the same quality that I could have gotten with just 1 hour of work. With the 5 hour option, I also got a messed up night of sleep, a headache and raging irritability. NOT the move I'd recommend.
So next time you're breaking your back to make something perfect, or holding yourself to an unrealistic standard, with the intent of beating yourself up about it when you inevitably fail, maybe just don't?
Start small, and stay small as long as you need.
Trying to cut sugar out of your diet but you eat an entire chocolate bar every day? Don't stop buying chocolate. You'll find something else, or end up driving to the store at midnight to buy chocolate. Instead, try to make a chocolate bar last two days, and then three. Maybe eventually start trying darker chocolate, not 90% but maybe 65%.
Take small steps to reach your goals, and stay consistent in those small goals. You will find yourself happier, less stressed and more successful when you let go of the pressure of perfectionism.
I hope if nothing else, this was a good reminder of what you already know!
If you have a topic you'd like me to write on, feel free to send me a contact form on my main page, or message me on social media! I want to share things to help YOU!
Thank you so much for reading. Truly, it means so much. Don't forget, your soul is good and you are beautiful. I hope you have the best day possible <3 Sending love!