Fear, Masquerading as Perfection

Letting go of perfection makes room for excellence. More than that, it makes room for getting it done. This week alone, I have seen friends, colleagues, clients (and yes – me too) not take action because something wasn’t perfect. This was disguised as:

“The time’s not right.”
“I’m still looking for my niche.”
“I haven’t found my business name.”
“I’m not sure what to write about, paint, photograph, etc.”
I”’m still looking for yarn for my knitting project.”
At least, that’s what we told ourselves. The truth?

“Now is not the perfect time – and I don’t know when that will be.”
“I haven’t found my perfect niche – and so I’m not talking to people.”
“I can’t decide on the perfect name for my business – so I can’t have a website, etc.”
“I’m searching for the perfect topic to write about, paint, photograph, etc. – so I’m wasting time, procrastinating, and not beginning.”
“I can’t find the perfect color of green yarn (you guessed it, that one’s mine) – so I have to keep shopping for even more yarn”
How is this serving us? It’s not.

Wanting things to be perfect gives us the illusion that we are in control, but how true is that? What if our version of “perfect” is just fear dressed up in fancy clothes?

Perfectionism is selfish – it can rob the world of our work, our contributions.

As a recovering perfectionist, I recognize the signs all too clearly. It comes down to choice — that momentary uncomfortable feeling of letting go of control. And, when the quest for perfection releases us from its grip, there’s a wonderful opening. And, in that opening is the space for excellence to happen. More important? There is space for creativity to happen.

What is one thing that your perfectionism is keeping you from today? What’s it going to take for you to let go and get into action? Do that! The world is waiting to see what you create!