Here’s a great quote for every perfectionist out there:
“Birds don’t just fly, they fall down and get up. Nobody learns without getting it wrong.” (Zootopia song by Shakira)
Let’s stop the fear of failure and accept it as part of the journey, which does not have to be a straight line (or perfect) in order to be amazing!
Let me tell you a story about perfectionism in its purest form…
About 5 months ago, my coach told me to draw a graphic of how my emotions should look like in order for me to be happy and satisfied. How should my life look like? How many ups and how many downs can I accept?
But, as a perfectionist, I was like “what downs??? there’s no such thing in my life! In order for me to be happy, everything has to work out perfectly, there are only ups”.
And guess what I drew?!
A STRAIGHT LINE. (exactly like the one below)
There were no ups, no downs, just pure perfection, without understanding that everywhere in nature there are ups and downs, good times and bad times, positive and negative.
For me, thinking that way was equal to “dreaming big”, to “not limit myself”, but I couldn’t be more wrong.
What does it mean for you to be consistent?
Does it have to happen every day for you to label yourself as being consistent or disciplined?!
What does it mean for you to have a habit? Does it have to be daily?
What if you could be more flexible?!
What if you could accept that being consistent is about doing the same thing (habit or not) over and over again during a long period of time at an interval that YOU decide?!
What if you could accept and label yourself as being consistent by doing one of your habits every two/three days instead of daily?!
What if you could accept that there are times when you feel like doing some habit daily and there are times when you do it only once per week, but if you start in January and you’re still doing the same habit in December (daily or not), you are consistent!
What if you could stop forcing yourself from doing all the things that certain guru’s, authors and thought leaders are telling you that you should do in order to be happy, healthy or successful?!
What if you could start listening to your inner guidance and do what feels right for you?!
Can you accept having a bad day?
I’ve come a long way since that story, but it’s funny how I couldn’t accept that I can have a bad day without beating myself up for not being good enough. I couldn’t accept that in life there are ups and downs and it was unrealistic to believe there can be just ups.
I couldn’t accept that it’s okay for me to feel negative emotions without meaning there’s something wrong with me.
I couldn’t accept that it’s okay to feel tired and skip a day at the gym and that is not the worst thing it can happen.
I couldn’t accept that it’s okay to be sad sometimes without meaning that I will become depressed.
I couldn’t accept that it’s okay to be and do less than perfect.
Believe it or not, but since I’ve started learning how to deal with this perfectionist in me, everything is working better in my life, especially my business which has doubled in the past three months. Try it, there’s nothing to lose!
It’s all about the meaning that we give to the events in our life and I encourage you to take yourself less seriously! Allow yourself to fail and have a bad day because you will see that there can be some pleasure in having a bad day if you LOVE YOURSELF.
