Solve perfectionism with this mindset (nerdy but effective)
“When will I know I’ve MADE IT?” I yelled to my career coach. This was a few years ago. I was frustrated and angsty after months of trying to advance my career, with roadblocks along the way.
“When will I know I’ve gotten there?” I followed up, desperately.
(I just want everything to be PERFECT, to feel “finished”, to no longer need development. O, show me the way to this hidden utopia, expensive career coach. I must find it!)
After a pause, she replied: “There’s no there there. You’re already there, now.”
Of course, this only riled me up even more. But eventually, the words of this career coach / human fortune cookie sunk in:
In life, there’s no such thing as being “done.” 🤯
“There is only the present, constantly.”
To quote the incredible memoir, “Not Fade Away” by Peter Barton. He writes: “The present moment is lived, and relived; written, and rewritten. Every previous version still inhabits it. There is only the present, constantly.”
Lexus’s tagline is: “The Pursuit of Perfection.” As perfectionists, we want to be the Lexus that just appears in someone’s driveway on Christmas, complete with a giant bow on top. Cut to end of commercial…
