I am a recovering perfectionist.
Recovering? Like an alcoholic? Yep. I’m addicted to being perfect, and I’m currently working on striving for progress, not perfection. Some days are better than others. Some days, I can go with the flow. Other days, I am painfully Type A: writing in 3 different schedules, scheduling my days down to the seconds, and making To Do Lists like my life depended on it.
Nowadays, especially for us Type A’s, it can be soooooo easy to get caught up in all of the free opt-ins where we are promised “6 figures in 6 weeks”, or “The Ultimate Blog Post Idea List to End Writer’s Block Forever”, or the magical formula to “Knowing Exactly What The Hell I Want to Be When I Grow Up and Being Perfect at It”. They are fucking everywhere. It can be overwhelming, suffocating, and oh so easy to get caught in the Comparison Trap.
The number one solution? Cut through the static. Stop subscribing to every single newsletter that looks like it “might help”. Unsubscribe from the ones that you aren’t wildly excited to read. Stop looking outwards for validation.
Looking outside of ourselves for validation is the first step to unbecoming who we really are.
When we get so caught up in what everyone else is doing, our thoughts get fuzzy, and we start second guessing ourselves. Comparisons set in. Our confidence gets shaky.
We see the big badass experts in our field rocking out, and we start to worry. Why am I not doing what she is doing? Why am I not getting as much feedback? Am I not cut out for this? Who am I to teach people how to do this? What the hell do I know?
Damn, that Comparison Trap can get really deep. Before you get in so deep you can’t get out, just put the phone down. Get off the computer. Close the laptop. Get as far away as humanly possible to technology and breathe. Go the fuck outside, for the love of Jeebus. Start asking yourself the questions you are seeking answers for.
Deep down, you already know the answer.
Fuck perfection. Get messy. Listen to your gut. Stop watching everyone else, be yourself. Stop trying to do what everyone else is doing, and do what you really fucking want to do. Hold your breath and jump in.
Mandy Grier
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