Four Strategies to overcoming perfectionism

Welcome back to my blog. Grab a drink and make yourself comfortable because I am dropping gems. If you have been reading my blog posts (if you haven’t, I invite you to take a pause and read the previous posts), you would know that I have created a mini-series about perfectionism. I wanted to share what I learnt from my experiences as a self-professed perfectionist who’s working on overcoming that hurdle. In my last blog post, I wrote about three steps to overcoming perfectionism. In this post, I cover four strategies to overcoming perfectionism. Without further ado, let’s dive in.

Set realistic goals

When you are an overachiever A.K.A a perfectionist, you tend to set goals that are grandiose. And when you do not accomplish these goals, it leads to disappointment. The antidote to this is to set realistic achievable goals. I have found that when I set goals that are realistic, it prevents me from spending an elaborate amount of time on huge projects. When I do things in bite size form, I see more results. Remember, you can start small and build your way up. Each small task adds up to a sizeable outcome. Remember the saying; Rome was not built in a day!

Stop procrastinating

The reason you procrastinate is because you want things to be perfect, whatever ‘perfect’ is. Procrastination is a delay tactic. You want to do something but you keep putting it off because you tell yourself that the circumstances are not quite right; you don’t have the correct tools to start, you lack money, or you don’t fit the bill (Insert your excuses here). But, all you need to do is start! Jump and build your wings on the way down, you’d be OK, trust me! I have found that making a ‘to do’ list with three tasks, helps greatly in curbing my perfectionism. The tasks needn’t be big; you can increase the intensity as you get better at finishing things. As you complete a task tick it off, and then move onto the next until all three are done. Having a ‘to do’ list allows you to maintain focus and keep your perfectionism in check.  For example, the three things on my ‘to do’ list for today are: to pamper my hair (girl I am sitting with henna in my hair as I type this), draft a blog post (this post that you are reading), and go to the gym. Talk about killing two birds with one stone. P: S: no birds were killed in the process of creating this blog post!

Stop negative self-talk

‘I am not good enough ’. ‘I am not pretty enough’. ‘ I am afraid to do it’.  Sounds familiar? Allowing negative self-talk to dictate how you live your life is like allowing someone to live in your house rent free, eat all your food, wear your clothes, not do any chores, and lay on your expensive leather couch all day watching Netflix. You’d kick that person out on their behind, right? Likewise, you’ve got to kick the negative thoughts out of your mind and replace them with positive ones. Start by affirming: ‘I am good enough’. ‘I am beautiful just the way I am’. ‘I can do it afraid’. One of the ways to overcome perfectionism is to affirm, affirm, affirm, and then affirm some more! Your words are powerful; the universe is listening.

Spend time meditating

You are probably wondering what meditation has to do with overcoming perfectionism. I was just like you once upon a time. Then, I started to meditate and experienced a change in my mind-set. What do all perfectionists have in common? I’ll give you a moment to think about it…….. Have you guessed it? I’ll take ‘they like to be in control’ for 1000 Alex! If you’ve guessed that, you hit the nail on the head. Perfectionists like to know that they can control an outcome. But sometimes, things happen that you cannot control, this is the very essence of the thing we call ‘life’. And this is where meditation comes in, because it helps you to be in the present moment, to sit in the stillness and just be. It is ultimately about letting go of the need for control, and allowing your thoughts to flow freely. It allows you to release judgement of yourself. It teaches you to be compassionate towards YOU.

And there you have it, four strategies to overcoming perfectionism. I hope that you have found this blog post helpful in some way. I would love to hear from you. Do you have any strategies that you use in the quest to overcoming perfectionism? If so, share them in the comment section. Until we meet on these pages again, bear this quote from Anne Lamott in mind: ‘Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life’