Get Out of Your Own Way to Achieving Results
Get out of your own way by wanting perfection and create the results you want
was finalizing the book I’ve written and kept re-reading and wanting to make changes. I kept tapping on the breaks, delaying, and getting distracted as discouraging thoughts roamed in my head.
Thank goodness I know what I know about paradigms that I was able to baby-step my way through the week.
Wanting Perfection Stops Progress
You see, we sabotage ourselves with the pretense that we require perfection. Looking for perfection is anti-productive; you talk yourself out of completing a project, not because it’s not ready, but because of fear. Yes, some fear that holds you back from growing. For me, it is a fear of being seen. When the book is published, my thoughts will no longer be private, and my beliefs and experiences will be forever available for people to read.
Facing Your Fear
This morning one of my gratitude was for being courageous in the face of fear. Can you relate? Fear arises when the work you’ve been working on is completed, yet you are stuck looking it over to ensure it is perfect. For example, you are afraid of hitting the send button on an email that will expose your thoughts. You say, “I don’t want to be wrong; what if they disagree”? And it is the courageous people who hit send that grow into the next level of becoming because they learn as they grow.
If you wait for things to be perfect, confident enough, or ready, or feel complete with the research you’ve done or about the situation, you will not get things done. In decision-making, you may ask everyone’s opinion or wait for a sign that it is the right action because you are afraid to make the wrong move.
Get out of your way to being happy
Whatever your step, it will move you forward, which is what you want. You want to move forward and then have another opportunity to make another move, and so on. Leo Tolstoy said, “If you look for perfection, you’ll never be content.”
You are striving for progress, not perfection, to move you toward the desired results.
Until I decided it was okay not to be perfect, and realized that despite what the book holds, there would be people who will enjoy, learn, and benefit from it, and others may criticize it. I am good with both if it helps people – even if only a few people because, I wrote it to make a difference.
Get Out of Your way to Achieving Result.
What project have you been putting off? It’s halfway completed or even completed but has not been released because of the fear disguised as striving for perfection. Get out of your way by wanting perfection and create your desired results. The result I want is to make a difference in the world. What is the result you want?
Let go of perfection, get clear on what you want as a result, and find the courage to move forward. I love Sir Winston Churchill’s quote, “Fear is a reaction, courage is a decision.” When making the decision, you will find that you are closer than you think. Releasing fear and perfection will allow you to see that; the project is ready to be delivered, the decision you made is good, and the email is ready to hit ‘Send.’
Once you let go of perfection, you uncover that fear was holding you back. Then you can get out of your way by wanting perfection and creating the results you want.
Keep Moving to Your Results
Remember Newton’s First Law “An object in motion tends to stay in motion, and an object at rest tends to stay are rest.” That is why taking this one step will advance you to the next one and all along your path to the destination you pursue. Remember, progress, not perfection, is what you want.
Staying still looking for perfection will only accomplish two things; continue to fire up your fear and keep you stuck. Getting out of your way is the best thing you can do to create the desired results. Face your fear by becoming comfortable with being uncomfortable; highly successful people do that. They have learned to frequently put themselves at the beginning of a new life since comfort nurtures the old one. They intentionally do this for growth.
Developing the skill to be uncomfortable is like building a muscle that the more you exercise, the stronger it becomes, and the more it can do.
INVITATION TO LIFEWORK
How to Get Out of Your way to Achieving Results
Take a kind glance at the last year of your life – In what part of your life you have applied the brakes?
› Have you given up losing those extra pounds or doing the extra self-care for your health?
› Have you stopped pursuing the relationship goals you are desiring? Wanting intimacy with your partner or better communication with family and friends? Or stopped welcoming the life partner you would love?
› Have you halted your career growth because you are comfortable and afraid to go for what you want? You tell yourself life is good because you measure success by earning a good living, yet you know you want more.
› Have you been longing for more balance in your life? Do you desire the money to do what you want and the time to enjoy it?
What you are doing is acknowledging the longing and discontent in your life – each of those is a signal for growth.
After discovering what you would love, start taking steps in that direction, knowing that consistent action means progress.
Become clear on the result you seek; let this be your guiding force. “Keep the end in mind” is the 2nd habit from Stephen Covey’s the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Connect with your why or what you would love is the fuel you will use to motivate you in your journey.
Then, could you make a list of the steps you can take?
Once you have your list, identify two or three that light up on the page (no matter how scary they appear to act on) and put them in priority order.
Take the first step despite things not being perfect. Every action, even a baby step, can take you to Mt. Everest.
Congratulations! Keep going. . .
Believing in You!
