Progress over perfection

Choices. Choices. Choices.

Decision fatigue is a plague upon our mental health. It’s the monkey on our backs, the Sword of Damocles dangling over our every move, our three-year-old selves waiting to come out and wreak havoc on us again…

The beginning and the end of each journey are the places where we are most emotional, but those are the smallest parts.

I used to battle with perfectionism. There was no room for error, and every single mistake I made was a lash upon my back, a scar for the world to see and ridicule. I had nightmares about getting a B as well as having no pants on in the middle of class. I would inwardly recoil in horror whenever I played a sour note or made a wrong move in a video game.

It got to the point where I was reluctant to do anything unless I was absolutely certain of its outcome.

Maybe you’ve been or still are the same way?

Ironically, this is a fixed mindset. It’s all or nothing, winner-take-all, second best is first loser mentality that keeps you stuck in the status quo of ineptitude and incompetence. Paralysis from analysis is the quicksand in the jungle of progress.

Let’s talk about it, shall we?

It’s the climb

Don’t hate on Miley. She knows what’s up.

You can’t will a digital heirloom into existence. There’s action to be taken, materials to be collected, truths to be faced. I didn’t write over 250 articles magically overnight. It has taken a steady and obsessive need to sit down and face myself every night after a long day’s work and cooking and cleaning and screaming and hollering.

Ambition only gets the boat going. It’s the wind of discipline that keeps it moving along against the currents of life.

Getting something right the first time is a rare thing, but the chances of it happening are much higher if you have more transferrable skills to pull from. Children seem to intuitively leverage theirs, appearing to pick up things at an exponentially faster rate than their older caretakers who can barely remember their login password.

This phenomenon is a myth told to gatekeep high-value skills.

They say that either you have it or you don’t. The truth is that these two states are exactly the beginning and the end of the process only. The growth mindset barely acknowledges these two moments and focuses on the relentless pursuit of the middle, the cream filling, the jelly, the…

You get the picture.

I’m hammering on this a lot, but you don’t need to have everything ready before you take the first step. Imagine if a baby had that mentality. My boys would still be waiting for food, crapping their pants, and staring into space.

Don’t let perfection prevent you from sharing what you know.

Shake it off

Don’t hate on Tay-Tay. She knows what’s up.

Showing up every day really is the way to break away from a perfectionist mindset. Without making a few mistakes, you won’t know what to avoid through personal experience.

• Parents can only say so much to childless individuals before their first one.

• Marketing mavens can only present so much in their courses and newsletters.

• Celebrities can only share their experiences with aspiring social media influencers.

At some point, you have to get into the arena regardless of whether you have a sword, a shield, both, or even none.

The point is that you have to take action and be in the thick of things to make progress. You’ll get punched in the face, kicked in the groin, and pies thrown in your face repeatedly at every step.

Shake it off and keep moving forward.

That’s the secret to success.

No matter what, do this to keep going

Take the wins, regardless of the magnitude.

• Stopped a few bites sooner than you usually do in pursuit of losing weight? Awesome.

• Walked away from somebody who was being rude to you rather than punching them? Great.

• Got one more like than your usual response on a social media post? Have some chocolate.

Think about some of the wins you’ve had today and write them down somewhere. Keep track of what you’ve accomplished for a week and look back on it on the eighth day.

You know the meme: “How it started./How it’s going.”

Endless growth is yours to claim.

Next issue, I’ll talk about another wonderful little thing we all love to do as a social species...comparison.