Perfectionism - Not So Perfect

If you find yourself being super critical of yourself, you are probably a perfectionist.
You may even be proud of the fact that you are a perfectionist.

Is perfectionism a good thing? Let’s take a look at some of the imperfect parts of perfectionism.

Being a perfectionist is one of the biggest causes of procrastination. If you find yourself putting off starting a job, notice what your expectations are of yourself. If you feel as though you have to figure out the perfect way for completion, you will probably delay the start for quite awhile. Be honest with yourself about what you’re really doing with your time and energy. Why are you setting the standard so high that you can’t even start?

Being a perfectionist makes it difficult to be authentic with yourself and others. If nothing but perfect is OK with you, how can you be transparent with others about something that you consider to be less than perfect? No one and nothing is absolutely perfect. Being OK with something not complete or not perfect in yourself and others allow much more connection in your life.

Being a perfectionist can make it difficult to be around you. Not only are perfectionists hard on themselves, they can be hypercritical of others around them. With focus on even the tiniest details and intolerance of anything that has any flaws, how could anyone be comfortable submitting work or being observed by you? Mistakes are just a part of being human. It’s time to cut yourself and others some slack.

Being a perfectionist doesn’t allow you to have the practice it takes to actually get closer to perfection! It is only with practice and more practice that we can improve on our previous performances. When there is so much hesitation to get started, the practice just doesn’t happen often enough. Decisions always have some degree of uncertainty and to be a good leader it requires getting comfortable enough with those unknowns to take action.

Being a perfectionist can cause you to make everything of equal importance. There are some situations that cannot tolerate even the slightest degree of error. There are many other decisions in life that really don’t have a huge impact on anyone’s safety and can benefit from the forward motion of a decision made and carried through with correcting in the process.

Being a perfectionist and working long hours doesn’t always reflect well on your abilities. Why are you needing to work longer and harder than everyone else? Are you not as intelligent? Is your productivity less than it could be? Are you focusing so hard on the details that you are getting buried in them? While you may have thought that it looked good that you were so “dedicated” to your work, you may actually look just a bit desperate!

It’s time to look at your situation honestly and notice what your patterns are. Think about what kind of standards you have and if they are really serving anyone. Perfectionism has not created many happy and success people. In many cases it has made people isolated, unsuccessful and miserable.
When you can ease up on the stringent demand for detailed perfection, you will notice more of your energy and creativity coming alive. With that passion comes the kind of significant impact you can have on those around you and the work you accomplish.

What could you accomplish if you freed up more of your creative passion? Check out the resources at http://www.exuberantproductivity.com that can help you achieve a healthy bottom line plus quality time. Contact Suzanne Holman, MAEd, the Exuberant Productivity Coach at suzanne@suzanneholman.com .

Men, Minimize Your Stress - 3 Simple Ways

Why are some men so happy and others are so miserable?
Why do some men seem so grateful for the gift of their life and others just take things for granted?
Why do some men go through their lives rolling with the punches and others react to very similar circumstances in very negative ways?

Richard Carlson, author of a number of books, wrote Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff for Men: Simple Ways to Minimize Stress in a Competitive World. This book is filled with short chapters of ideas to bring about a smoother life for men. I’m sharing with you some of the wisdom I found most insightful.

HAVE AN AFFAIR.

Yes, have an affair – with life! When you can recognize the miracle of life, you begin to attach great value to those everyday moments that can be so easily overlooked. For some of us, it takes a life-threatening event to shake us to this realization. Don’t wait! Have your affair now!

All the people in your world start to take on more importance, whether you are buying groceries or getting your oil changed. You appreciate little conveniences more.

When your priorities are in order, you can become less demanding of others – and yourself.

IT’S OK NOT TO KNOW THE ANSWER.

It seems to be part of the “job description” of being a man to need to know all the answers and have a response immediately. What pressure that can be!

Blurting out an immediate response without giving yourself time to think about it can create more problems. You may find yourself committing to more than you can handle or giving an inaccurate answer.

Just acknowledging that you don’t have an answer or solution yet, can have great advantages: eases the tension, clears your mind, releases worry, and opens the door for wisdom to surface.

YOU MAY NEED MORE THAN A VACATION.

When everything seems to be closing in on you and your workday never ends, your first thought may be, “I need a vacation!” That’s great, but what happens when you get back to the office?

First of all, just being away has a way of flooding you with extra work to do when you return. It’s great that you gave yourself a break, but here you are again, buried in work.

Maybe it’s time to really look around at the clutter in your schedule. Yes, clutter. Just as we collect papers or knickknacks, we can collect random tasks that we never should have taken on for ourselves. They could very well be completed by someone else, but you just haven’t taken the time to delegate. Or they may be processes that could just as well be pitched.

It’s basically the same process as when we go through stuff to declutter. There are some things we’ll keep. There are some to give away to others. And then there are some that are ready to go in the garbage.

Decluttering your schedule can certainly lower your stress level!

Is it time for you to declutter your schedule for a healthier bottom line? Get some support and great resources at http://www.exuberantproductivity.com/. Contact suzanne@suzanneholman.com for a coach who knows how to increase your exuberant productivity!