Lessons Learned from a Recovering Perfectionist
I’m a recovering perfectionist. By nature I really like everything to be very organized, every ‘t’ crossed, ‘i’ dotted and everything to have my personal stamp on it. But I know in my past, my quest for perfection kept me from moving forward, so I’ve had to tame it. I also know it’s not an easy beast to tame.
So, let’s be honest…How much is your desire for perfection holding you back? Being able to recognize that desire can often give you the motivation to just move forward and take action. I want to share with you some of the ways trying to be perfect has slowed me down and more importantly what I did to become a recovering perfectionist.
Perfectionism can have an especially negative impact on your success when you run your own business. A really important message I want to communicate is there’s really no such thing as perfect. So if you’re struggling to make it "just perfect" you’re directing your energy into something that’s impossible to achieve.
Another way perfectionism slows us down is we feel like we want to know it all (and should know it all). We think, "This is my business. Who knows it better than me?" The truth is, as experienced or knowledgeable as we might be, we don’t always have all the answers. Sometimes we need to reach out to somebody and admit in a vulnerable way, "I don’t know how to do this. Please help. Guide me."
At times getting the help that you need in your business means letting go of some control. As you delegate to a virtual assistant, graphic designer or copywriter, it’s unlikely that they’re going to do it exactly the way you do. That’s a fact. What I realize is that delegating saves me so much time and energy. Maybe they did it 90% of how I would have done it and I had to tweak it 10% but it still dramatically increased my momentum.
So as a recovering perfectionist here are my lessons learned…
I just work to take action, even if it’s imperfect action and just get my projects out there.
I’m not afraid to ask for help. I’m comfortable admitting that I don’t know it all.
I let go and instead of completely controlling all the details, I delegate to my team trusting that they’ll get it done. (and when we have mistakes, that’s what "oops" messages are for.)
Trust me, the satisfaction of getting it done (by letting go of your desire to be perfect) and getting your brilliance out into the world makes it worth the effort. You’ll free up your energy to tackle your big ideas and really get some momentum building in your business. If you want to learn how you too can be a recovering perfectionist, please grab the audio recording of Get It Done 101 – How to STOP Procrastinating and Tackle Your BIG Ideas with Confidence…So that You Can Make More Money and Help More People! http://metromom.com/gidcall
Tags: Get It Done 101, perfectionism in your business, perfectionism leads to procrastination, recovering perfectionist
