Peace of Mind Organizing

Become an Imperfectionist

5 March 2010

Some people are surprised to hear that many of my chronically disorganized clients are perfectionists. The truth is that perfectionism can be paralyzing. If a perfectionist doesn’t know exactly how to do something the best way, or how it will turn out, they just can’t start.

I thought this article by performer, songwriter, and creativity consultant Christine Kane was spot on, I had to share it with you. It comes from her newsletter, Live Creative, and I’m reprinting it with permission.

— Janine

Why Becoming an Imperfectionist Makes You Successful and Happy
by Christine Kane

“Anything worth doing is worth doing badly.”
~ Julia Cameron

How much stuff do you think about doing?

How many things would you love to try but stop yourself because you don’t know how to begin?

Do you avoid projects because of the pressure to do them well?

If so, feel free to join me and some of my most successful friends in our exclusive club of very special and talented people:

We call ourselves the Imperfectionists!

What’s an Imperfectionist?

• An Imperfectionist is often a recovering perfectionist.

• An Imperfectionist knows that getting something done is better than sitting back and waiting to do it perfectly.

• An Imperfectionist knows that being a Perfectionist is simply an excuse NOT to take action.

• An Imperfectionist congratulates herself for taking small steps.

• An Imperfectionist buys herself flowers when she accomplishes something — even if it’s not quite up to her ego’s high standards.

• An Imperfectionist knows that getting a scary thing done IS the reward. Not the kudos or adoration.

You Might Need to Become an Imperfectionist if…

• You tell yourself you need to get “just a little more information” before you’ll try something.

• You have a case of the “Used-to-Be’s.” (“I used to be so good at this!” Or “I used to be so thin!” Or, “I used to write everyday and now look…”)

• Your mantra to the world is: “I’m just so overwhelmed! There’s too much to do! It’s so hard to be me!”

• You call friends and co-workers to get sympathy for how hard it is to accomplish your goals and dreams. They often agree, citing how special you are because you have been given so much talent – and how it must be quite a burden.

• You spend more than one hour per day on Facebook, watching television, or not fully engaging in other addictive activities.

• At the end of every year, you wonder why you never seem to move any further towards your dreams.

• You are waiting for your POTENTIAL to finally kick in.

Why Becoming an Imperfectionist Makes You Successful and Happy

Being an Imperfectionist is an Intention.

When you become an Imperfectionist, you finally recognize your ego voice exactly for what it is: Your own personal Success Prevention Expert.

When you become an Imperfectionist, you finally realize how many Success Prevention Experts exist in the world.

When you become an Imperfectionist, you lower the bar – or better yet, remove it altogether. You can then create in the moment without any grade or standard. Ironically, this allows for such freedom and joy that you might end up doing a great job. (Or at least having a great time!)

When you become an Imperfectionist, you place your creative attention on the project or activity itself. You don’t waste it on obsessing about the outcome. (This paradoxically leads to a higher chance of greatness, and a definite outcome of happiness!)

When you become an Imperfectionist, you get things done imperfectly. You then learn that you can tweak and fix and try again. This process makes you Unstoppable.

When you become an Imperfectionist, you finally understand that there are no mistakes. Just judgments.

Becoming an Imperfectionist doesn’t mean you don’t become a master of your craft or your passion – but that’s not the starting goal.

How to Become an Imperfectionist

1 – Imperfectly pick one thing you keep telling yourself you want to do.

2 – If you read #1 and think, “I can’t possibly pick just one! There’s too many!” then do not proceed until you have picked just one.

3 – Get a timer, and set it to 55 minutes.

4 – Walk away from your computer right now and spend 55 minutes doing that very activity.

5 – Repeat #4 again tomorrow.

6 – Repeat #4 again every day after that until the item is complete.

7 – Celebrate the item’s completion with chocolate, flowers, or a manicure.

8 – Go back to #1 and start over.

An Imperfect List of Things You Can Do Imperfectly

• Imperfect Writing

• Imperfect Meditation

• Imperfect Yoga

• Imperfect Romance

• Imperfect Hiking

• Imperfect Vacations

• Imperfect Scrapbooking

• Imperfect Cooking

• Imperfect Dinner Parties

• Imperfect Bowling

Add your own items to this list as needed. (Janine adds “Imperfect Knitting.”) Find a way to let yourself experience them without judgment. And listen to this recovering perfectionist when she tells you that your success is guaranteed when you live by this principle!

Disclaimer: The preceding article should be ignored by the following people:

Brain surgeons.
Commercial airline pilots.
Skydivers.

Performer, songwriter, and creativity consultant Christine Kane publishes her ‘LiveCreative’ weekly ezine with more than 11,000 subscribers. If you want to be the artist of your life and create authentic and lasting success, you can sign up for a free subscription to LiveCreative at www.christinekane.com.

Tagged with: christine kane, perfectionism

Comments

Add your comment

Name

Email

Website

Message:

Remember   

Your email address will not be displayed or distributed.

You may use Textile formatting including:

• _italics_ = italics
• *bold* = bold
• "text":url = text