#ProgressNotPerfection

#ProgressNotPerfection is a mantra that I've been working with for a couple of years now, and the more I bring it into every area of my life, the more progress I feel I make, and the better my life gets!

Lets break down the phrase into its parts, and start from the end.

Perfection is such a killjoy. And yet, all of us have our inner perfectionist. How does yours show up? Of course, there are good parts and bad parts to perfectionism.

On a good day, it makes the work we do as good as it can be, it motivates us to clean our houses, look as good as we can look, try harder in relationships and be better people.

But on bad days, it can stall us and sabotage us. It can tell us that whatever we do is rubbish and we just shouldn't try anymore.

Whatever the balance you have of the way perfectionism shows up in your life, the chances are that if you are asking questions at the moment like "is this it for life?" or "I know that there is more in me" but the answers are a bit overwhelming, you might have more negative perfectionism than positive perfectionism.

Progress Not....

This is why the concept of making progress and not aiming for perfection can be so powerful. I think there are three main components when you think about what "Progress" means:

1. Attention to detail

2. Imagination

3. Self Respect

When we talk about progress, we can still fall into the trap of expecting our progress to be massive and immediately noticeable - if we don't instantly lose a stone during the first week of our diet, then that's not progress. If we can't immediately run 5km at the end of our first ever weeks' running regime, we've failed. If the promotion at work isn't offered after that big presentation we did... then we aren't valued and should look for another job.

This is why our attention to detail is so important. Did we feel better after eating our healthy meal or going out on our first run? Did the presentation at work develop new skills that I didn't have before and get me noticed by new people in the business? THAT is progress.

And progress like that, made consistently over time, builds up really quickly to something really meaningful, and enjoyable, and fulfilling in life.

This can take imagination though - if you know what you ultimately want (promotion, weight loss, fitness, whatever it is) then you'll need your imagination to combat the perfectionism. Planning small steps and looking around for new ways of doing things will put your brain to work in a constructive way and silence (at least for a while) those pesky voices that might threaten to sabotage you.

And this is where self respect comes in. This is a new way of doing things, and it will involve you having conversations with yourself that you might not have had before. Like answering that inner critic voice with "Yes, I know I don't look like [insert beautiful person here] yet, but today I achieved [more than yesterday!]" Keeping that going is progress in itself if you haven't been that kind to yourself in the past.

Try it out

Why not try #ProgressNotPerfection and the three ingredients above on something that you want or need to do?

It can be as small as a Google Search, or texting a friend.

try taking 10-15 minutes every day for a week and see what happens! And I'd love to hear how it goes.

And of course...

In my recent Facebook Live, I talked about how I help people, and using this mantra is a key part of it. The way I work with people is entirely designed to help you make small steps every day, celebrate your progress regularly, and quickly see how far you have come - so if you would be interested in working with me on something that really deserves to change in your life, use the contact form below to contact me today!