Header Top Banner

Join my tribe of empowered women. Get fitness tips, life hacks, and inspiration delivered to your inbox.

Empowerment

Empowered Women Empower Women. Here is where you will read so many inspiring stories of women just like you who had a dream and created greatness.

Is Perfectionism Killing You?

"Just write, don't worry about the errors, pour your heart out on that paper, and the rest will follow through," said my 12th grade English teacher back in 2002. I'll never forget Mr. Reddington and all his wisdom. The idea of just writing, though, never came easy, and I kept seeing the same theory (the stress of ensuring whatever I create is perfect) follow me in whatever I did.  

I've always been a perfectionist; however now more than ever, I realized just how much it hurt me. Do you find yourself waiting on people’s approval? Are you continually stressing over whether or not your work is good enough for people to see? Do you second guess yourself and then wish you hadn't after the fact? These are all signs of being a perfectionist and believe it or not when following this path; we are slowly killing our productivity and definitely hurting our creative sides. It was only after understanding this fact that I began to see the parallels between dreamers and doers.

Dreamers and doers, what makes the two different? We are all dreamers to a certain extent, but it’s when perfectionism gets added to our dreams that we tend to see the difference between the dreamer and the doer. The person who pushes to achieve greatness, has the drive to accomplish goals and repeats those steps over and over again is the doer where-as the dreamer holds himself back waiting for things to be perfect.

One of the biggest things that stops dreamers in their tracks is their mindset!

Our mind is a powerful tool that controls what we accomplish. If our mindset is “can’t do” and we are constantly criticizing our work, or we believe that it is not good enough, then we will never achieve our highest level of greatness! However, if our mindset is “can do”, and we believe in ourselves and our dreams, we will aim high and accomplish our goals regardless of what others think.

So, now that you know what's hurting your chances of succeeding on your journey, how do you stop it from affecting you? How do you move on from being a perfectionist? A few months ago, I started working on simple steps to walk away from my perfectionist desires. Here are some steps that have helped me move away from perfectionism and achieve goals!

1)    Stop second-guessing yourself!

Easier said than done, right?! Trust yourself, listen to your gut feeling and let that be your guide.  If you believe in what you're doing and you're passionate about your project, everything else will come together in time. Keep at it, accomplish something small every day and over time, those little accomplishments will together become something huge. Lastly, when in doubt, simply click “submit/publish” and move on. Our fears live in our hesitation, so once we submit our projects, those fears automatically disappear until the next time.

2) Don't wait for something to be perfect! Just trust that it's perfect right now, just the way it is!!

You are exactly where you are supposed to be! Understanding that and having a positive mindset will help you move forward. Always remember that nothing gets perfect in a day, it all takes time but working on your dreams little by little daily will help you get there.

3)    Consistency is key!

My final and most crucial step is CONSISTENCY! Following whatever plan is working for you over and over again will help you master any career path. This idea of always performing and repeating the small steps that have worked for me over the past two years helped me tremendously with the blog and with my training career path. It took me from merely having the dream of being a trainer to passing my exam and working with clients today.

Had I let perfectionism affect my dreams of creating a blog, I would still be writing and editing but with no blog, no vision, no accomplished goals. Today, I can proudly write this post, knowing what I went through to get here. I still have the urge to hold something back from time to time because it isn't “perfect”, and when that happens, I simply go back to the three steps I listed above and see where I can implement them to help me move on.

I hope this blog helps you or someone you know. As always, I'd love to hear from you. Are you a perfectionist and if so, is it hurting you in your business or private life?

Yours,

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Please input your email for access to the freebie!

      Please input your email for access to the freebie!

        Please input your email for access to the freebie!