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Welcome to Day 5.
If you struggle with perfectionism then today’s challenge will be a challenge indeed!
Get ready to step out of your comfort zone my friend…
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Wow! That was tough and not 100% followed through on. I did not however rewrite whatever I wrote today, I just corrected spelling. And sent it off. I did look back on what I wrote after I sent it. I wanted to cringe about grammar and what I thought was not perfectly clear. Just let out a sigh! lol reminding myself “who cares?”! This is not an exam or anything else of importance! I realize I just don’t want to make others think I don’t know how to write. But REALLY! who cares? Just me! I really need to stop wasting time and focus those extra 20 or so minutes getting rid of clutter!
That’s the key, Lety. Its all a trade-off. Everything matters a little. It’s a questions of focusing on what matters more.
I had never thought about the time used on going through something I wrote when it didn’t matter. I feel exactly as you say: I have found time in which I can focus on more important activities. Thank you for encouraging me, Michelle. 🙂
This is not feeling good–my OCD is screaming right now! But…when I think about it…just for a second-it really is ok…you are right-my computer didn’t implode, the lights didn’t go out….really the only one affected was me—and I am letting go…. Feeling better!
Today I threw clean sheets into the laundry basket without folding them! There really isn’t enough space in the laundry room for that. I’ll fold them later when I put them away. Who cares if you have wrinkles on your sheet? (If you are suspecting that perfectionism isn’t a problem for me, you may be right.)
LOL Loralee the wrinkles smooth out when you make the bed. 🙂
I remember my mother ironing the sheets every week – sprinkle, sprinkle, sprinkle from the glass root beer bottle she kept water in, then STEAM! I also remember thinking “Who cares, they’re just sheets and we’ll be sleeping on them with our eyes closed and in the dark anyway!” I hate ironing, BTW!
Liz Stern LOL I hear that sister!
I’d really like to fix that comment! BUT I am going to let it go! 😉
I do the proofread, edit, blah, blah the emails & my comments. I can take forever for me to write an email to someone. Here is where I’m making myself very very very uncomfortable. I am just writing that my perfectionism is my email comments. I’M NOT ging to go back and redo this not one word!
Haha love it Diane!
Okay, just gave the covers on the bed a quick pull-up, rather than obsessing over how neatly the bed was made. Posted a picture to #21DaySimplify on Twitter, and blogged about it in my blog. On a very tight writing deadline, so will possibly post more tomorrow.
I let my fear of not doing things perfectly get in the way of actually even starting to do things. It’s almost like I’m paralyzed and think “Well I don’t have the time or energy to do it perfectly so why do it at all”. This is something I know I really need to work on.
Not even starting things you care about is the real problem, Debbie. You miss out on life.
I can so relate, Debbie! I feel I have to do everything at once! And if I can’t I don’t want to do it. I’ve been slowly chipping away at that mentality, but it’s so difficult.
I have been told I am a perfectionist, but not extreme. So, I guess I could take the day off too if I hadn’t fallen behind on previous day’s tasks.
Okay, I’m not much of a perfectionist, so this was hard for me. I think tomorrow I’ll let the kids dress themselves for school. My son does okay but my kindergarten daughter never matches. I know I shouldn’t really care, so tomorrow she can wear whatever her heart desires!
Automatically started thinking…Oh Lord if I don’t recheck emails then they will think all kinds of bad of me. Thinking…there is only one way to make the bed….If I don’t use the antibacterial wipe and then the windex it won’t be clean. Ugh. Struggling with this one. REALLY HARD TO HIT COMMENT WITHOUT PROOFING!!!
Just try one of them – the least challenging – to start with. Make a game of it and it won’t seem so bad.
Wow. I’m pretty obsessive about everything being perfect. I’ll even avoid doing something if I don’t have the time to do it perfectly. And I get so upset if someone else does something to help me, chores or whatever, and they don’t do it the way that I do. And the emails..don’t even get me started on that. Thank you for this!
Taking one little step will help Ursala. 🙂
Years ago I had a goal to become perfectly imperfect. Perfectionism had gotten the best of me: anxiety, defensiveness, anger. I wasn’t fun to live with. So I let go…and am NOT turning back.
Oh I love “perfectly imperfect”, thanks for sharing! I usually chant “good enough” to break my perfectionism but I like P.I. a lot! It might be my new title, Mary Beth, P.I. Ha!
Sounds perfect. 😉
As a recovering perfectionist (aspiring “good enoughist”), I’ve addressed most of these issues. I long ago gave up my standards of cleanliness figuring that the half-assed job the kids did was better than not done at all. Today, with limited time available, I vacuumed the main floor of the house the way they do – in the middle without moving every chair to vacuum underneath. I probably still did a better job. But I skipped a lot of what I normally do and totally passed on even attempting the stairs! Where perfectionism still has a hold is on particular projects that I won’t even start because I want it perfect and don’t know where to begin or don’t have it fully planned out (for example the baby albums I want to do for my now-adult daughters). My plan today is to pull out one of them and create a page. Just START.
Good job! How’s the album looking Cheri?
Just popping back here to say that Sarah’s baby album is DONE! I went to a crop on Fri/Sat and took that as my primary project. I made a concerted effort NOT to overthink it, obsess over making each page beautiful, or wish I had a photo that I didn’t. I just took what I had, pasted the photos in, added captions… and DONE is better than perfect!
Cheri Doughty Andrews It sure is Cheri! And DONE is pretty awesome. 🙂
Serendipity? One of my morning readings was about this topic. Two quotes from it: 1) “Perfectionism is self-abuse of the highest order.” ~Anne Wilson Schaef and 2) Serenity 102: “Progress, not perfection.”. Unfortunately, my streak/tendency toward perfectionism comes out when others share a chore/job/task and don’t do it like I do. Hubby is the same way. We’ve had some interesting times through the years!
Ah yes Brenda – other people’s standards versus our own! One of the things I’ve found helpful is to make myself appreciate wonderful things in others that aren’t related to those standards. I always find plenty!!
I am beyond perfectionist and sometimes affectionately referred to by others as OCD. This is a constant struggle for me since I work full time, have 3 kids under 11 and own my own business on the side. Lately I have been on a journey to be good at the things that matter the most. I have had the mesdiest house lately but the happiest kids. Still a lot for me to work on.
That struggle is an ongoing one, Tammy! But I think your path to be good at what matters is the right one.
Amen sister. Sometimes we just have to let things go that are not really important in the big scheme of life!!!
5 years from NOW who is going to know the difference? Blessings/CAH
I am also one of those who reads emails, and any other writing I do at least 5 times. I can’t stand not being able to communicate clearly. I just went back and corrected spelling twice, but I’m NOT going to read this comment in its entirety before sending it. I’ll come back and report how it went.
Love it Lety!!
I guess I get the day off. No perfectionist here! sometimes I wish I was, but it’s just not my personality.
Me too…I sometimes think if I was a perfectionist maybe my house would be cleaner…lol
Me too…I sometimes think if I was a perfectionist maybe my house would be cleaner…lol
Me too. Three kids under foot prevents any possibility of perfectionism for me. Instead, I’ve been thinking about if there are any areas that my husband won’t help out because I demanded higher quality prior to kids.
Fell on floor laughing over working so hard on emails. Realized I stopped making my bed because I couldn’t figure out hospital corners. Thinking I can now simply pull up the sheets and straighten the bedspread on top. Last week when I went to dr. appt. I realized I had put my t-shirt on backwards and found myself suddenly needing to turn it around. She stopped me mid turn and suggested I just put on a hospital gown. Ah, perfectionism…
When we can laugh at ourselves we know we’re on the path to recovery Kate!
I’m such an uptight tangle of perfectionism. I once worked for a company where perfectionism wasn’t required, accomplishment was. It was so liberating! One of my biggest time wasters is trying to craft the perfect email. I approach it like an author. TOday I’m going to write quickly and save time in all personal communication. I just left the “O” in TOday, even though it’s killing me! Ouch, there’s a kjnot in my stomach.
Nice work Sharon! That O is a symbol of freedom, both to let go of what doesn’t matter and to embrace what does. Yay you!
I LOVE this one. I do it all the time!
I’m only going to correct the business emails in the future. Have you noticed that when your friends make typos, you read right over them and know exactly what they meant? I think it goes the same way when we make mistakes.
I can relate to this! When I read the hospital corners and rechecking emails, I felt like you had a hidden camera at my house! However I have been dealing with this myself already because of others that I live with, so their habits do not send me crazy. And yesterday… I even left my shirt on inside out, as that was how I put it on accidentally in the morning, and it is supposed to be lucky and I wouldn’t be seeing anyone anyway! Aahh, milestones. Will endeavour to do something less than perfect however.
Maree, approaching the challenge with your sense of humor will help enormously! 🙂 Kylie ~ Community Manager