The Part of Perfectionism Everyone Struggles With
If I’m being honest with you, writing every day is hard.
Especially considering the parameters I gave myself.
Each post must:
- Be in my own voice
- Have my unique viewpoint
- Be quickly digestible
- Be actionable
When I committed to writing every day, I realized that this was big.
Coming up with a fresh concept, in my own words, that was easy to consume, and that also demanded a discrete action that could be achieved in 2 minutes or less is a pretty difficult challenge.
So, what happened?
Sometimes posts didn’t go out at the right time. I travel a lot so timezones have messed with my automated triggers that send out emails and tweets.
Sometimes I am finishing my workday at a weird hour and I’m exhausted—but I still have to write. It’s painful.
Sometimes I miss typos, fail to get the point across or make the post too short to really communicate the point.
Basically, I fail a lot.
And however much I fail, it feels like I’m failing 10 times that.
The point isn’t to make it perfect. Well, at least not today. Or tomorrow.
The point is to constantly approach the upper limit.
The point is to ride the asymptote of improvement as far over to perfect as I can.
The only way to do that is by writing, reviewing, adapting, testing, getting feedback, and writing again.
The other part is to accept that people are going to criticize what you’re doing, especially you. In fact, you are often your own worst critic.
This is the case for writing and it’s the case for everything else.
There’s no substitute for consistently doing the work.
And you’re not allowed to beat yourself up.
2 Minute Action
What’s something that you’ve been meaning to improve in your life?
- Exercise?
- Marketing your brand?
- Motivating your volunteers?
- Energizing your students in the morning?
Here are some things you can do right now in 2 minutes or less:
- Do burpees for 2 minutes straight. If you can’t, do 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off.
- Send out an email to past clients and ask them to write a testimonial for your brand.
- Pick a measurable outcome that volunteers can see. If they can see how well they’re doing, they are more likely to improve.
- Google “fun facilitation exercises” like “rock, paper, scissors, posse.” You have the whole internet at your fingertips.
You're Not As Good (or as Bad) As You Think
There's something strange that our brains do.We tend to hyperbolize how we're feeling in one direction or another.Either we're having a great day or a terrible one.It's a good hair day or a bad hair day.Our team is either winning or losing.The truth is much more boring.If we just took an extra second to zoom out for a second, we might see what others see. The good news (and the bad news) is that it's never as good (or as bad) as it seems.The more we can look at ourselves pragmatically, the easier it is to see the world as it actually is. This means seeing our Facebook friends and co-workers as they actually are. This means our grip on the world is more founded on the truth, and we are less likely we are to make important decisions along the ebb and flow of our experience.What a fresh dose of clarity for our mental health that would be, right?
2 Minute Action
When was the last time you beat yourself up for something?How might you talk to yourself if you were one of your friends, instead?Using this little question/technique can quickly cut through the fogginess of self-reflection.Use it today, you might just learn something about yourself.
The Trick To Hitting A Moving Target
The pressure is on when you're trying to hit a moving target.There are always people around to criticize you, or to give you free advice on how to do it.Nothing is ever quite right when you're taking aim, either.You're too old.You're too young.Your idea is too big.Your idea is too small.Your life is too comfortable.Your life isn't uncomfortable enough.The target is always moving.This ebb and flow is a thought pattern that flows through all of us and it can dangerously warp reality if we let it.The good news is that if we realize we're stuck in our own heads, we can start to see clearly again.If we realize that these are excuses and not truths, we can begin to realize the target was in our sights the whole time.RE: The trick to hitting a moving target is realizing that we're the ones moving it.You have more control than you think.
2 Minute Action
What's a criticism you have of yourself? How has it held you back?What might happen if you didn't believe it? What might happen if you had a magic wand and that criticism disappeared forever?What might you be free enough to do, then?What if you gave yourself permission to ignore the voice and do it anyway?