Shift
To switch, move around, displace, disperse.
When you disturb something it changes. It changes how it looks, where it shows up, and how you look at it.
For example when you disturb (%&$@) manure you get fertilizer.
I know, I’ve been a dairy farmer and had to help shovel lots and lots and lots of manure from the barn, and help spread it on fields.
Untreated, out in the field it sits in a thick patty, and if it gets disturbed it does stink, but when it gets spread around, then fertilizes the ground.
So it is with traits like perfectionism. It needs to be stirred up and shifted, dislodged, dispersed displaced. If there is too much manure in one spot in a field it kills the grass.
Perfectionism is like that. It kills curiosity, creativity, and fulfillment. So how do you go about shifting perfectionism?
You start with admitting it’s right in front of you before you step in it.
You go about it with awareness.
Be on the lookout for perfectionism in your attitudes, habits and tendencies, just like you have to be on the lookout for the cow patty, walking through a field where cows live.
Admit It, when you see it name it.
Here’s a list the things you need to be on the lookout for in spotting “Perfectionism”.
Unrealistic expectations of yourself?
~Anxiety about getting work done?
~Verge of burnout?
~Worried about making mistakes?
Procrastination?
~ Putting a task off for fear of a blunder and reflect badly on you?
~Telling yourself you have lots of time, becasue you just don’t want to admit your uncertainty?
~Avoiding the tasks because you can’t do it perfectly (what ever THAT means.)?
Overdoing or Redoing your own things or others?
~Redoing a job or task you asked someone else to do?
~Internal messages of not good enough or NGE?
~Putting the final touches on, ad ad nauseam?
These are only three of many signals that may indicate you have a tendency toward perfectionism –
from yourself, from others OR that perfectionism is being expected FROM you!
In my next newsletter I’ll talk about how we can shift perfectionism. But for now you have to recognize it.
So get your internal pitchfork (or manure spreader🚜) ready and we’ll dig around in some of those beliefs, those habits and internal messages that push us towards debilitating tendencies of perfectionism. The ones that take away our confidence, take away curiosity, and rob us of the fulfilment we desire.
Maybe we could call this being a “Shift Disturber”
I’ve got an idea what to Shift to!
Or if you don’t want to wait, reach out and let’s have a conversation right now. Click into my diary. I look forward to helping you shift perfectionism. Let’s see what we can make richer!