Passionate Theme of the Day: Im-perfect

“Perfectionism is slow death.” ~ Hugh Prather

“Perfectionism is a dangerous state of mind in an imperfect world.” ~Robert Hillyer

“It’s not about being perfect, it’s about being passionate.” Kammie K.

Here’s a topic close to my heart and one you’re going to see much more about on the PMP blog. The topic is perfectionism. To say I’ve suffered from this nasty little bugger is putting it mildly! I’ve referred to myself as a “Recovering Perfectionista”, and like any person in recovery, from time to time I stumble and fall. But I continue to get up, dust my booty off and keep on keepin’ on.

Why will you be seeing more of this topic here on the PMP blog? Well my friends, I’ve been enrolled in an intense course to become a Certified Personal Brand Strategist through a group called Reach Communications.

My intention for this course is to get crystal clear with the direction I’d like to head with PMP. Things have gone well this first year, but I want to get clear about who I serve, what value I’m providing my clients, and how working with me vs. the 8 zillion other coaches out there, will impact my clients lives.

This course is challenging. It’s requiring me to dig deep and to excavate that shiny gem that IS me. Funny, I thought I had already done that. I feel like I have been putting myself “out there” and that I’ve been allowing others to see my authentic self. Ummm…right. There are soooo many layers. We’re such colorful beings aren’t we? Humans!

Upon peeling back the layers and looking at who I’d get really lit up working with, I’m finding out its other people that deal with issues like me. There are certain warning signs, road blocks, and behaviors that are consistent among high achievers, work-aholics, perfectionists and control freaks – like me! So in this excavation process, I’m discovering my strengths, my weaknesses, and my personal preferences.

In fact, I stumbled upon this fantastic article that brought me some comfort today from renowned creativity coach, Eric Maisel, at Creativity Portal called Taking the Bad with the Good.

Eric says this:

“In order to create, we must take the bad with the good. You are bound to write many bad paragraphs along with the good ones. That is the eternal law. You can get rid of those bad paragraphs later but first you must write them. Otherwise you won’t write anything. If you try to write only the good paragraphs, you are three-quarters of the way toward paralysis.

The name for this problem is “perfectionism.” But people afflicted aren’t striving to be perfect. They simply do not understand that the good requires the bad, that getting to the good is a process that includes mistakes and messes.”

OMG! Can I get an AMEN? My favorite part of that quote? “Getting to the good is a process that includes mistakes and messes.” I’ve discovered this affliction called “perfectionism”, also leads to procrastination, lack of focus and a distraction with multiple other projects, and frequent trips to a place I lovingly refer to as “Funksville”.

In trying to prevent the “bad”, we often find ourselves at a standstill. Instead of just powering through whatever is blocking us, we tend to resist and quickly throw up a fortress around us.

Sometimes the fortress looks like this, “I’m just in PLAY mode. I don’t feel like DOing, I just wanna BE.” (FYI…that’s where I’ve been the past couple of weeks). It can also look like, “There’s just so much to DO with the house, the party, the pets, the car…I’ll get to ‘Project BIG Dream’ soon. It can wait.” Or how bout this little ditty, “I can’t create right now. The juice, the muse, the mojo just isn’t there.” Any of these sound familiar?

My goal for the future is to shine a light on our perfectionist dysfunctionality (is that even a word?) and help others heal themselves by digging deep, uncovering the true YOU, expressing it in the unique and individual way that ONLY you can.

I’ll be granting permission slips for anyone out there that needs one to just BE YOU. The rock star you already are. There’s room for the dark and the light. The beauty and the geek. The angel and the devil on our shoulders. Without accepting the “bad” we’ll never “get to the good”.

Eric Maisel also said:

“Everything changes the instant you accept that you are bound to do lots of inferior work. Then no particular piece of inferior work is much of a blow. You just burn it and get on with your masterpiece.”

I hereby agree to hold you (and myself) accountable for burning the inferior work and for getting busy creating the masterpiece of our lovely, dynamic and sometimes absurdly twisted lives.

Burn Perfectionistas Burn,
Kam