When people ask you how you are doing, what is your response? My go to response used to be “I am so busy! I just can’t seem to get off this merry go round that I am on.” Yes, I was busy and yes I was overwhelmed, but I made it sound like everyone else was causing me to be busy. I didn’t realize at the time that I was doing this to myself.
It wasn’t until I stopped and got off the “merry go round” that I realized how I was struggling with everything. When I took the time to slow down, I realized that I was just trying to be perfect. I thought that I had to be the perfect Mom, the perfect Wife, the perfect employee. It takes a lot of energy to be perfect.
The thing is that no one really expected perfection of me. I put that on myself. When things didn’t go well then I would get defensive about it. Perfection is a disease that is tough to see when you have it. It is about avoiding criticism or putting things off because you don’t believe you can do them perfectly.
In hindsight, I wasn’t delegating enough and I wasn’t asking for help. I can see this same thing happening to many of my clients. I know that my own experience with perfection helps me recognize it in others very quickly and I can help them start to move past it.
Does this story sound like you or someone you know? Once you recognize the signs of perfection, you can do something about it. Do you want to spend all of your time being perfect or just being yourself?