Progress not Perfection

Perhaps I speak for myself but I know I have been that person that can get caught up in all of the things I need to do to get things “just right”.  I have made countless lists and tried to check off all of the boxes to show I did all of the things that will lead to the perfect outcome.  

However, I am learning that what my version of perfection is can be totally different than someone else’s.  This is the perfectionists trap.  That if I do all of the “right” things then it will lead to the “right” outcome.  I learned a long time ago that there aren’t necessarily any “right” things or “right” way to do things. So, I have learned to let that go over time.  However, what I am realizing now is that while I knew, intellectually, that  “perfection” was not a real thing, I did think that there was a “best” outcome.  What I didn’t realize was that that best outcome was what my perception of “best” was.  So, in reality it was another trap.  

See, my version of best and your version of best may be different and while I was able to see this when working with others, it has not been something that I have had difficulty with for myself.  Until recently, I was not letting myself off the hook for things that were “good enough”.  They had to meet the ideal that I had in my head even if it wasn’t in anyone else’s.  It has been a struggle to reach a bar that has been set super high by really only myself.  I am my hardest critic.  

I think that many people can get caught up in this paradigm.  And when I get caught in it I have to remind myself…...Progress Not Perfection.  

At the end of the day I try to be grateful for at least one thing that happened that day and remind myself that no matter what, I did the best that I could.