I don’t consider myself to be a perfectionist. Probably because that would surely infer that much of what I do ends up perfect.
And it definitely doesn’t.
However, I’ve recently come to realise that I DO have a real problem with just allowing things to be ‘good enough’ and this little habit is sucking away hours, days and weeks of my life and is generally stopping me from being able to get a healthy amount of shit done.
It has the biggest impact in my writing. It feels like I almost love language too much.
Whether it’s mine or someone else’s, I get such pleasure from reading something that has been bloody well written. Something that’s engaging, accurate, funny, relevant, intelligent, insightful.
I want my writing to be all of those things.
I don’t actually think that what I write is rocket science but I desperately want and need it to be stimulating and for it to occasionally raise a knowing wry smile.
And I think sometimes it is and, in fact, sometimes the good stuff actually flows quite easily.
But just as often, especially on days when the brain fug has rolled in, I get stuck. Where shall I start? What’s the perfect word I’m looking for here? Where am I going with this? How can I finish this now without the abruptness of a driving test emergency stop? Now let me just read it through for the 73rd time just to make sure there aren’t any typos (because, for me, even the thought of publishing something which includes a typo is nausea inducing).
I had a chat with a social media manager recently who was joking about a client of hers who was taking half a day to write each of her blog posts. “How ridonculous is that?” (she didn’t actually say ridonculous, I just like that word). I laughed and nodded along while inside my head I was thinking “half a day on a good day!”.
So, following the same journey that I take my clients on, I’ve taken the first step.
My awareness has been raised and I’ve become consciously incompetent about the fact that, left to my own devices, some things will take me absolutely ages and that’s neither useful nor interesting nor helpful nor fun.
And just as I’ve started to get my arms around this realisation I’ve been punched in the face by possibly my biggest overthinking challenge to date……..rebranding my business. Yes, I’m talking about giving someone else aspects of control over what my business baby looks and feels like.
Gulp.
Designer: “You have four revisions within which you’re going to hone in on your new logo and colour palette.”
Me: “What do you mean I can’t see every option from every angle in every possible colour permutation and combination before then having the opportunity to procrastinate for 2 weeks and seek the opinion of anyone with a pair of eyes and a pulse?”
So I’ve had to take a deep breath, haul on my big girl pants and pray to all the gods that you’re not going to stop reading my stuff or wanting to work with me just because I chose slightly the wrong shade of mint green. (And if you happen to hate mint green now is absolutely not the time to tell me.)
And, of course, I’ve just given two simple, specific, current examples here of how not being ok with ‘good enough’ can affect my life. The concept of feeling good enough about yourself, on the inside, is a whole different galaxy and one which I think I’ll save for another day. Us overthinkers must start small, after all.
Where in your life could you try a bit less hard, care a little bit less, give yourself a break and be ok with things just being ‘good enough’?
I’m going to stop writing now because I think this is just right and more than good enough for today.
(And it’s only taken me an hour to write. Can I get a whoop whoop.)
Hey there, in case you didn’t know, I’m Hana and I’m a Mindset Coach.
Sometimes known to my clients as ‘the lovely stranger’.
I’m here to help you see things from a different perspective, to choose a different lens, to find different ways of thinking, being and doing.
So that you can get out of your head and just get on with living a bloody great life.
If this sounds good, then send me a message here or direct to [email protected], and we can arrange a cuppa sometime to find out if we might like each other enough to work together.
Keep enjoying the journey.
