I have struggled with perfectionism my whole life. I say struggled with it because trying to do everything “perfectly” or be “perfect” can truly be EXHAUSTING. It can also prevent you from actually getting anything accomplished because you spend so much time trying to perfect every small thing. Sometimes with perfectionism, you delay starting projects until you feel like you are able to FULLY dive into it with your full attention. But reality is, we don’t have all the time in the world to focus on one thing for a long period of time. And so then people who deal with perfectionism delay starting projects and in turn, have a hard time getting anything done. Does this sound familiar to you?
If so, you are in the right place. In this post, I am not going to do my typical “5 steps for so and so” or “my top 10 habits for so and so”. Today, I am just chatting about perfectionism, the inexistence of it and how to overcome it.
As I have entered my 30s, I have really begun to learn where to spend my time. I have learned what’s important and relevant and what it not. I have also learned that done is WAY BETTER than PERFECT. Having kids definitely made this very clear to me haha.
We just moved into a new house and at first I was feeling overwhelmed with trying to make everything perfect right from the start. But once I accepted that perfect does not exist, I felt A HUGE load off of my chest. Getting things set up in a new space takes time. It takes lots of trial and error. When I was trying to make things perfect, nothing was really getting done. Boxes were being unpacked so slowly. Closets were being set up at a slow pace. Cleaning tasks was piling up. But once I accepted that getting things done is better than things being “perfect”, things just got done SO MUCH FASTER and I FELT so much better and more accomplished.
So how do you overcome perfectionism? Honestly for me, it’s constantly reminding myself that perfect DOES NOT EXIST. There is no such thing as perfect. You will never achieve it because it doesn’t exist. It shouldn’t be something any of us try to achieve. Also constantly telling myself done is better then perfect has helped A LOT!
I used to honestly think being a perfectionist was a good quality I had. And I mean of course it’s better then not caring to do things properly at all haha but I realize now in my 30s that being a perfectionist is actually quite a challenge and can be difficult to overcome but incorporating these 2 reminders has truly helped me SO MUCH and I hope they help all you other perfectionists out there 🙂
