Breaking Free from Perfectionism: Embracing B- Work for Joy and Liberation

Few things wreak havoc like striving for perfection. It will waste your time and energy, and rob you of productivity, self-esteem and creative juices.

At some point in our young lives, we got the idea that we’d be happier, and feel better about ourselves and our lives if we were perfect. We started to push really hard for straight A’s, tried to excel in extracurricular activities, be skinny, have the right clothes and the right friends. We thought those things would make us happy. Today those things might look like having a clean house all the time, a perfect work/life balance, kids who are always well-behaved, a skinny body, a beautifully curated social media presence, or a job where we’re nailing it and always climbing the ladder.

The specific object of our desires and circumstances change over the years, but the drive for perfection sticks around until we make peace with it. By striving for perfection, we’re trying to avoid negative feelings, or get positive ones. We think it’s the key to everything.

The truth is, perfectionism is a joy-stealer, time-sucker, energy-waster, productivity-destroyer, and creative juice-drainer. Perfection is impossible and robs us of a full life.

Start putting B- work out into your world. The email you sent had a typo, that’s ok. Your house isn’t spotless, no one will die because of it. You don’t eat five to seven servings of fruits and veggies a day? Some is better than none.

Look inside to learn your “why.” Why do you think you need to be perfect? What will it save you from feeling? This “why” is important to know. When you know it, you can decide if it’s helping you. If it’s not, you can begin to let it go.

With the practice of B- work, you’ll notice a lightness and freedom as you see that B- is still really good! Your mind and heart will open up with possibilities and your emotional state will improve. Heck, you may even decide to see what a C+ life looks like!

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