Note: For this podcast’s show notes, I've decided to deviate from my standard show note format, and go with more of a blog post format. I felt this would be a better way to communicate the information.
Are You Ready to Beat Perfectionism Once and For All?
If you’re reading this post, I’m going to assume you’re ready to put perfectionism in it’s place once and for all.
I’m also going to assume that you’ve had enough of dealing with the decreased productivity and the endless feelings of fear, doubt, anxiety, and worry that accompany perfectionistic thinking.
Not to mention the huge energy expenditure of trying to be perfect, and do everything perfectly all of the time.
It’s exhausting, I know.
I definitely feel your pain.
I've been there.
In fact, even though I’ve done a good deal of work in this area, I still find myself having to deal with perfectionistic thinking from time to time.
And that brings up an important point.
In my own experience, and learning from others, I don't believe the perfectionistic thoughts ever go away completely.
I think we just learn to see them for what they really are, and learn to ignore them, so we can get on with living.
The good news is that once we successfully overcome this type of thinking a few times, it gets easier.
I’ve picked up some really effective tools over the years to use against this formidable foe.
These strategies, tactics, and techniques, which I’ll share with you in this post, have made a huge difference in my own ability to take consistent focused action without being hindered by perfectionistic thinking.
Sooner or later I think we all realize that if we ever want to get anything done in life, we have to slay the perfectionist beast within and take back control of our life.
Who or What is Behind Perfectionism Thinking Anyway?
Before we get into the strategies, tactics, and tools, I want to take a minute and talk about who, or what, is behind perfectionism.
If we’re going to do battle with this thing, we’ve got to know something about it.
We’ve got to gather some intelligence on it.
Like any good tactician we've got to take some time to prepare, and know ourselves, and know our enemy, before we engage in any kind of battle.
If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” ~ Sun Tzu, The Art of War
In the case of perfectionism, the real enemy is our own ego mind.
So, what do we know about the ego?
Here’s some info on the ego:
Your ego’s job is to keep you safe, at least from a social standpoint. Human beings are social creatures. Looking foolish is akin to death, to your ego, because this could be detrimental to your social status. A failed venture could cause you to lose face in front of your fellow humans. And to your ego, that’s the worst thing that could ever happen to you. So, the ego uses every trick in the book to keep you from doing anything that could potentially open you up to ridicule, humiliation, or disgrace. And as you know, some of those tricks are pretty advanced. Perfectionism is just one of the ego’s tactics.
If you’re alive, then the ego feels it’s doing it’s job perfectly. But as we all know, there is much more to life than simply being alive. For starters, there’s personal growth and development. And that typically only happens when we venture outside of our comfort zone, and try something new; meet new people, master a new skill, etc.
Your ego will do anything to keep you separated from your divinity—your true source of power. Because once you realize you are not your ego, or your ego-created story, the ego has no control over you.
Your ego is a projection of your lower self. It’s largely the result of the environment in which you were raised and the social ...
