Nobody's Perfect

"Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor." Anne Lamott

Anything worth doing is worth doing well. We should take pride in our work. We should give our best effort. I want any surgeon working on me to be a perfectionist! However, some people take it to an extreme, and those folks need to reach the conclusion that sometimes "good enough" is enough.

Some perfectionists take forever to complete a task because they are so focused on doing it perfectly. Procrastination and perfectionism can also go hand in hand. Putting something off until you can do it perfectly causes you to miss deadlines. Trying to be perfect can take a lot of joy out of life, if you sit out the volleyball game at the picnic because you aren't a world class athlete.

Some people seem hard wired this way. But one perfectionist I know told me when he was a child, nothing he ever did was good enough for his dad. His father died many years ago, but this man still allows those old tapes to play over and over in his head.

Why be so hard on yourself? You know, just between you and me, "perfect" does not really exist. So why not give yourself a break and just be good enough.

Susan