07/23/2021
Gabe’s Anti-Perfectionism Challenge
Hey all… About 6 months ago I decided to go after perfectionism’s stranglehold on my life.
And, by golly, it’s pretty darn close to being totally eradicated. Hallelujah.
I’ve seen this insidious monster mess up way too many things over the course of my life… starting from very early on. Sure, I may do some things with excellence… but perfectionism rarely allowed them to be enjoyable.
When presented with a task, a concert to play in, a decision to make (even choosing something to eat at a restaurant can be a battle) it was greeted with a sigh and I felt a weight drop onto my shoulders.
“Okay… here we go… It will be good in the long run - I’ll be glad I did this when it’s over.”
That is, IF the thing actually got completed.
Having a band (or something external) counting on you to show up helps a lot - but when it comes to writing stuff, launching a website, making YouTube videos and other stuff like that… Let’s just say I have a TON of half-finished blog posts, videos and courses, sitting on my hard drives going back to 2006 (?).
Every once in a while I happen upon them and say, “Wow, that’s great stuff! I really should finish that and put it out into the world.”
But when you have to do it perfectly, you know how unlikely that will be.
And with us artist, feeler types… the thought is… well, when the muse strikes that’s when I’ll be able to finish that thing.
Hmmmm… yeah right… maybe… if I get lucky.
But luck is no way to get anything done.
And so this is why I’m doing this perfectionism challenge - this is my personal thing I’m imposing on myself to continue the process of crushing this disgusting pest out of my life forever.
Moving in the opposite spirit of the thing that plagues you is a powerful thing.
And I feel great when I actually do publish stuff.
I’ve gotten decent at hitting publish over the years and not letting myself get too bogged down by the P word. I do it for clients quite often.
But when it comes to publishing for myself it’s been too easy to let P get in the way. So I decided that I was going to start hitting publish here on FB every day for at least 30 days as a way to keep developing that muscle.
The point is to write and hit publish as fast as I can without being too concerned about the structure, word choice, etc. It’s just raw Gabe.
So if you read them or not, I’ll be here with my stories, rants and meditations on whatever comes to mind.
It’s likely what I might say to you had we passed each other on the street and you had a few minutes to chat.
I don’t edit myself (much) when I talk to people on the street…
The old perfectionist me would just think, “Why did I say that???” for 3 hours afterwards. Haha.
Anyway, welcome to my process…
I welcome your conversations in the comments.
