Episode 147: Perfectionism and the Actor
The problem is perfectionism is a good thing up to a point.
When it crosses that line of paralysis, the excitement burns off, or it becomes too late.
A story about learning imperfectly.
If I was trying to do it perfectly, this podcast wouldn’t exist.
When it's imperfect, it’s exactly the way it is meant to be.
Perfectionism is what stops me from getting the really important things done.
Every day you do three things that are towards your goal.
Allow yourself to be an imperfect person, and allowing yourself to show your imperfections to the world.
Allow yourself to be brave.
The process of being comfortable with yourself while you’re not doing it perfectly.
Learning to soothe yourself, when you get scared or uncomfortable.
- Having the presence to feel those feelings, and feel safe and good to feel those feelings inside that.
- Feelings aren’t facts.
- “What other people think of me is none of my business.”
- Seeking balance.
98.6 is our body temperature. When we work out, our temperature rises. But when we pass 100 degrees, we have a fever.
When is your perfectionism reach a fever and burns you?
Perfectionism leads to procrastination, leads to paralysis.
When it burns me, I use it to pick on myself.
- “I should be farther along”
- Shaming myself
- That shame blocks us
If we can keep that perfectionism to that 98.6, we are still able to access the helpful tools of self-love and self-acceptance.
It enables us to grow and change.
Keep your perfectionism under 100 degrees.
Lean into the life lessons perfectionism teaches you.
Slowly allow yourself to let go of it.
When we hit that 100 degrees, there’s a certain high that we get from it, but when we do that we’re flying too close to the flames and burning ourselves.
