One of the things I am so proud of about myself is my perfectionism. It is one of my best and worst traits. It is what makes me great at what I do, and also paralyzes me from moving forward into new things. It keeps me stuck right where I am, and sometimes keeps me from doing the thing that I want and need to do the most. I am so much better than I used to be, though have a long way to go to grow.  I have come to realize if everything needs to be perfect, it will never get done. Life is not perfect. It is messy, and crazy, and nothing happens exactly the way it should. Trying to make our lives perfect is like trying to cut the lawn with scissors. So crazy! Fear is the driving force in perfectionists. It drives most of what inhibits us from doing what we need to and should be doing. Perfection paralysis happens when we don’t share our amazingness with the world because it doesn’t meet up with the ridiculous standards of our society. We feel as if we have to be perfect at everything- work, family, relationships, appearance etc. What we need to realize is just how many people we can inspire and help by just sharing our vulnerabilities. Here are a few things that could help you to conquer your perfection paralysis and start living life fully.

1- Lose the ego. This is a hard one, but one of the ones that hold you back from stepping into your greatness. It is something that held me back for a long time. I thought I knew a lot, and no one could tell me anything. I was very wrong, and wished I could go back and let a wiser mentor guide me through the waves of my life and businesses. Find someone you know and trust to guide you and you will grow faster than you ever thought you could.

2- Live life with no regrets. We tend to hold onto the things in life we did NOT do. Even if you do something and don’t do it very well, you learn. When you learn you grow. I have learned just about every single thing NOT to do in business, so I can share those mistakes and hopefully save someone a lot of time and heartache in the future! Knowing what NOT to do is such a valuable thing. When you’re not growing you’re dying, so start living!!

3- Stop comparing yourself to others. Don’t compare your beginning with someone else’s middle or end! Everyone starts somewhere. We have no idea what it takes for people to get where they are at any point in their life and business. Our story has nothing to do with anyone else. You are writing your own amazing story, don’t get distracted with other peoples successes or failures. There is enough success to go around for everyone.

4- Be kind to yourself. Listen to what you say to yourself. That self talk that says, “Oh forget this, I will never do this right”.. or “I cant do this, it is too overwhelming”… You are an amazing capable person that can learn how to do anything. I struggle with this myself all the time and have to take a step back and actually force myself to be nice to me! Practice turning every negative thought that you say to yourself around and make it a positive statement. We would never let a person speak to a child the way we speak to ourselves, so start now and look at yourself as that child… what would you say to her?

5- Begin. Start. Take action. Any baby step that takes you one step closer to your goals and dreams. This is the thing that sets apart the successful from the not so successful. It wont be perfect, it might be messy, but it will start… it will happen. It has to be bad before it is good, good before it is great, and great before it is amazing. So start being bad now so you can be amazing later.

I would love to hear in the comments below how you have experienced perfection paralysis and what you have done to overcome it, and your plans to continue to in the future! Share this if you think more people need to read this!