Earlier this week we had a bit of fun at my expense.

Today, I’d like to get a little more serious.

[Gasp]

This thing called perfectionism is a serious thing. Many people are afflicted by it. (Yes, I’m likening it to an illness.)

Especially when it comes to new projects, many people have been caught saying, “But I’m a perfectionist. I need to get everything right before I do [insert next step].”

Yep. I hear what you’re saying. You’re basically saying, “I need to get all my ducks lined up, all of them in a neat and tidy row, before I expose myself to the public.”

Here are two reasons why that should bother you;

1. Ducks are not neat and very often do not line up in rows. They don’t. The pesky little critters just keep moving.

2. It’s your excuse for NOT.MOVING.FORWARD.

Go on, admit it. It’s your safe haven. It’s your security blanket. It’s your disguise for being terrified to expose yourself to the world. After all, once it’s perfect, there’ll be no reason it can’t go out, go public and be actively spread widely.

Isn’t it convenient that perfectionism doesn’t exist then, so that you will never have to expose yourself?

I see you. I see what you’re doing. There’s no pulling the wool over my eyes 😉

The sooner you realise that you’re using perfectionism as an excuse to delay exposing yourself, to delay being vulnerable, the sooner you can get on with fixing the things that actually need fixing.

Here’s the thing; if you don’t put your product/voice/project out there for scrutiny, you’ll actually never know what it is that needs perfecting. You’ll need interaction and feedback for that. Your baby (product/voice/project) ceases to be yours once it leaves you. Once you put yourself out there, everyone else’s opinion will influence and evolve the actual thing you’re putting out there. Their opinion becomes the teller of whether it’s perfect or not.

Your audience are the judge. Not you.

A harsh reality there; even if you do get it to a stage where you think it’s perfect, inevitably, other people may not.

There. I said it.

Oh, and even if you put it out there and it’s received well – full accolades and all – there’ll still be another tweak to make, improvement to lament over or addition to be added. Because sometimes it actually takes the bird to leave the nest before it can actually fly.

(Forgive me, I was attempting another duck analogy but I just couldn’t get it back to them. Birds in general will have to do. You get the gist.)

Well there it is perfectionists – there’s actually no such thing. So, why not make progress instead?

With love

Lynda

PS. I have something to announce very, very soon. Stay tuned. There’s an exciting new program coming your way.

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