The perils of perfection

"Perfect is not only the enemy of the good; it's also the enemy of the realistic, the possible and the fun."

Hi. My name is Claire and I’m a recovering perfectionist.

I have incredibly high standards, which you think would be useful, but they're confining and demoralising.

Perfectionism causes me to obsess over and worry about things to the extent that it causes my stomach to plummet and make me nauseous. When I was younger, I would rather fail at something just because I wasn't able to do it perfectly.

What I've found though, as I've got older, and more so since I've started self-employment, is that something that makes me want to crawl under a rock forever, is barely noticed by others. So there I am kicking myself and there they are happy with a job well done. Now I try to reach for excellence rather than perfection. Like the quote says, perfect is the enemy.

I still struggle when mistakes are made, not to own them (I’ve always been unfailingly honest) but I struggle not to obsess over them, struggle with perfectionist guilt and mostly I struggle to put them behind me. Those babies can haunt me for days, sometimes weeks, even once they’ve been rectified. BUT! I am actively trying to deal with it better. Each time a mistake is made, I rectify it (obvs), and I don’t find it easy, but I keep trying to put it behind me. Mainly because I feel that life is too precious to waste it on being angry at myself over things which – in the grand scheme of life - really don’t matter.

I also make a real effort to look for the things I did well, the good bits and this helps to balance things out for me.

And if you find yourself struggling with the perils of perfection, are a self-employed business owner and want someone on your team to help with all the admin that bogs you down, then book yourself in for a call and we can chat about how I can help.