There are lots of ways that we as human beings can become blocked, and one way is via perfectionism. It robs us of our life, our effectiveness, and our ability to connect to others in the world. What is this thing that keeps us from getting our amazing ideas into the great conversation, putting our creative endeavors out there for everyone to see and putting our incredibly talented selves out there for the greater good?
It’s our notion that if I do it and do it wrong, somehow that is worse than not trying at all. What will everyone think? Fear is lurking under the surface, fear that I will be rejected by others. Not that fear is a bad thing. Think about fear for a second. Everyone alive on this planet is alive today because our ancestors many moons ago had a healthy fear of things that could hurt them.
So, fear is very helpful and can keep us alive, but sometimes that fear, as with perfectionism, is out of balance and it prevents us from taking a risk where the consequence is pretty minimal.
That blog you have been meaning to write, the non-profit you want to start, the closet you want to clean out… all of these are worthwhile and are worth doing badly. What is the worst that could happen? The blog fizzles out but you learn something from it, the non-profit runs out of money but two students received a college education, and the closet project gets only half done. That’s not so bad!
Making mistakes is what connects us all to each other. I was at an industry conference a few months ago, and, out of all of the speakers that I heard, one sticks out in my mind. She was doing the introduction for the main speaker and had the wrong page of notes in her hand. She laughed and was a little flustered and simply said “oh no, I goofed this up.” She very calmly found her place and introduced the speaker very well.
I connected with her instantly because I make mistakes too. We all goof up, and isn’t it so endearing when someone just admits it and moves on? I dare you to do something and do it wrong today. Just start something. Goof up. I dare you to just start!
TODAY’S QUOTE:
“For a long time it seemed to me that life was about to begin – real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time to still be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.”
- Alfred D. Souza
TODAY’S ASSIGNMENT:
Choose one closet and pick up everything off the floor!
