In an effort to truly understand what it is about the word “perfectionism” that rubs me the wrong way, I created a quick mind map this morning while my son ate his breakfast.  The 8.5″ by 11″ page wasn’t big enough to really dump my mind on this topic but boy, the words I did get down were pretty powerful.

See for yourself:

I think anything that evokes the word “death” followed by two exclamation points, multiple times, is worth ditching.  Don’t you?

Perfectionism, to me, is a restricting, oxygen-devoid box with solid, unforgiving walls.  Yuck.  Even thinking about it makes me feel closed in.  Imagine being in a teeny tiny space where you can only face in one direction and breathe short, shallow breaths at long intervals just to survive.  Ok.  Enough.  You get the point.

Please note:  This article does not give you permission to do a half-assed job at anything and then chalk it up to the fact that you are avoiding being nit-picky and “perfect.” 

There is a difference between holding yourself back because of a fear of not measuring up to some imaginary barometer of awesomeness and, giving something your super-duper, 100% best and then trusting that its worth is immeasurable.

I learned that waiting for perfection could result in a failure to launch when I was re-designing this website.  And I think a failure to launch is much more of a loss than putting your best out there and then discovering more changes need to be made.

In fact, isn’t it exciting to consider the possibilities of improving something, adding to an existing idea, or creating a product that is even more efficient than one you already designed?

What’s YOUR relationship with perfectionism?  Not sure?  Grab a piece of paper and write the word in the middle as I have above.  Draw a short line out from it and write the first word that comes to your mind when you think of perfectionism.  Then draw a short line out from that word and write the first word that comes to your mind when you think of that word.  Keep going till you run out of words (or more likely, when you run out of space) and then start a new chain from the original word.

Here’s to a year of being perfectly YOU, with all your quirks and talents.  Go ahead – leave that imaginary barometer behind in 2012.

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P.S. Make space and time for more laughter, love, abundance…whatever else you need…in 2013!  I’ve downloaded my business and life calendar/workbooks from Leonie Dawson and they are fabulous!  Everything I need to organize and dream in a brightly coloured, creative package.  Check them out here if you’re looking for that extra-something that will help you take 2013 to another level!