Release the Deathgrip of Perfection

Gary - Nobody is perfect but those who strive to be have huge anxiety problems. 

Not that I was oh the way there to Olympus anyway. I see your point, but my 14-hour days are not because of perfectionism, but for more down to earth reasons.

And I would be happy to follow your advice.

And I would do it sooner rather than later

Thank you for reminding. Going there.

Gary,

Great post! And the elderly act just like they did when they were children...only express it more maturely and assuredly!!! Thanks,   Fran

Hey Gary- great advice!!  I have a silly question totally off subject...  I'm net to activerain- I've been blogging a little and thought i set up my blog to appear "segmented" (PARAGRAPH) style but it cam out as one big blobby blog!!  Do you write it in another program and copy and paste?  I noticed you- and others are able to sort of stylize your blogs- please let me know.

Nevermind Gary- I realized I was using HTML.  I switched it and now it's no longer a blobby blog!!

Although I do appreciate a well-done production, and I'm good at working behind-the-scenes, I know what you mean and you've said it so well. I ALSO know that, a lifetime of anxiety can stem from survival... if I hadn't set my sights so high at a young age, I would not have raised my children with the calmness & creativity & just doing a lot of things better than what I'd experienced. Whenever I've been asked, 'what is your greatest accomplishment?", I have to say that I am speechless, only because I know that what I feel has been the most significant achievement of my life, has also been the most silent... that my children grew up knowing they were loved and valued, and they all grew up loving each other. Today they are all best friends. None of it is or was "perfect" but I did have to search for a "perfect picture," a model for my thought. You are right, though, about not working so intensively. I do too much of that. Maybe I treat my projects too much like 'children'...:-) I'm going to tell myself to 'stop it' now... I can turn off the survival mode and live a little better. Thanks you very much, Gary.

GARY - You bring up an interesting point.  I think before Active Rain, I wouldn't have even known that others feel the exact same way as me.  It's difficult to let the perfectionist in us all give way to just doing our best.  It's probably because we want to make sure that we never look bad in front of others.  Thanks for the reminder.

Gary, This is great.  I have a dear friend in the office who is a perfectionist.  She will spend hours on a postcard.  She will do it over and over, making tiny changes.  My philosophy has always been that it is more important to get it out then to get it perfect.  Do I make mistakes... absolutely.  All the time.  That's why God gave me a sense of humor.

Im no where near perfect...Never tried to be perfect.  But, I try every day to be my absolute best.  There is a difference.

Gary - someone once told me that "best is the enemy of better", what she meant was, that if we kept waiting until a product was the best it could be, we would never release a better product. In a previous life I have seen that demonstrated over and over again, product releases delayed, not because they didn't work, but because they weren't perfect.

But does that mean we shouldn't strive for perfection? No, it doesn't. We just need to know when to pull the trigger, as it were. And, as you put it, when to balance our lives and values against that unattainable perfection.

And we need to recognize that what might be perfect for us, might not, in reality, be perfect.

A release from perfection!  Hmm that is freedom indeed! Its all subjective anyhow isn't it.........setting goals for something unattainable....what an exercise inendless frustration.