Breaking Perfect Series, Part 1

Something I’ve learned about myself over the years is that my perfectionism can be a good thing…but if I’m being honest, I’d really consider it a “bad” thing most days.

I’m not sure if it’s because I’m the firstborn, or because of other parts of my personality, but I do know that there is a big part of me that struggles to make everything I do absolutely perfect - or as close as I can get it. And yes, when I say “struggle”, I mean there have been struggles my perfectionism has caused.

Now, just to be clear, I’m not talking about doing things with excellence. (I had a Bible College professor who once said Christians should be the best workers in their workplace, simply because they represent Christ, and I totally agree!)

I’m not talking about doing what we do as well as we can.

I’m talking about the false belief that everything we do has to be done SO well - and so perfect - that no one could ever find fault with it. That every aspect of it has to be so good that no one else could make it better, and that every person who views it would exclaim over its perfection.

Friend, that is a crippling load to live under.

Because the more you try to make things perfect, the less time you allow yourself to do things well.

See, I can get so bent on making sure whatever it is I work on - whether it’s a new song, an article, a new business endeavor - is so perfect, that I wind up never getting it done.

In my mind, every aspect has to be thought out and it has to be the biggest, best, most polished, and professional-looking before anyone else sees it.

Take for example, planning a birthday party for my son. I’d go on Pinterest, pinning dozens of food and decoration ideas. I’d buy all kinds of stuff from amazon or a local party store, intending on having that picture-perfect (Ok, PINTEREST-perfect) birthday party “for my son”…and the day would come and I’d wind up stressing myself out, and stressing my son and husband out…because everything had to be perfect.

I’d work on an idea for a new article, or part of my book coming up, and the idea would be in my head, but I’d write and re-write so much of it, trying to make it absolutely perfect, that it would never.get.done!

Have you had times like this? Times where you knew something needed to get done, and you had all these plans to do it - and do it well! It would be perfect!

These next few days we’re going to be diving into the false belief of perfectionism and how we can get freedom from the idea that we and everything we do has to be done perfectly. Invite your friends in, and let’s have some gab-time as we start breaking “perfect”.

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Everyday Imperfect

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