Psychologist Thomas Curran explained perfectionism is not the quest of perfecting a task.
It is an act of covering up the โperceived imperfectionโ in ourselves.
I have never regarded myself as a perfectionist.
It came as a surprise when perfectionism emerged as my chief saboteur when I took a self-assessment test developed by Positive Intelligence (PQ, link in comments) recently.
As I reflect on my results, I can see truth in it.
My fixation on getting things ๐ง๐๐๐๐ฉ.
My tendency to self-judge when I fail to meet ๐ข๐ฎ ๐๐ญ๐ฅ๐๐๐ฉ๐๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐จ.
My habit of pushing myself even harder for ๐ก๐๐ฉ๐ฉ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ข๐ฎ๐จ๐๐ก๐ ๐๐ค๐ฌ๐ฃ.
This haunting feeling of โ๐ฃ๐ค๐ฉ ๐๐ค๐ค๐ ๐๐ฃ๐ค๐ช๐๐โ has continued to weigh down on my shoulders subconsciously.
I should know.
The perfectionist in me took up to 5 hours to draft 1 LinkedIn post when I started posting this February.
I wasted considerable time over-thinking and over-tinkering.
I undermined my self-confidence, mistaken fulfilment lies in perfection.
๐๐ฒ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ถ๐๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐ณ๐น๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ.
The first step to harness perfectionism is to acknowledge its existence in us.
The desire to be better has given me the strength to strive.
It has empowered me to overcome the ‘impossible’ in my life.
It fuels my motivation towards lifelong learning and personal growth.
Recognizing my perfectionist traits has allowed me to be self-compassionate.
Instead of being frustrated with myself, I learned to understand the origins of my habits. This has given me the confidence to be less than perfect.
We can achieve more and find joy when we choose to put down our baggage. ๐
We can find peace when we recognize no one is judging us other than ourselves.ย ๐
โฉ PS: Would you put down your baggage?
What if there is a perfectionist in each of us?ย
