Perfectionism Preempts Progress, Peace, & Pleasure

In the drive to success, it can be easy to forget your purpose. We seem to get so wrapped-up in keeping-up that we forget the real reason for waking-up. Life has only one purpose; and that purpose is LIFE. In life, we can choose between progress and stagnation, peace and war; and we can choose pleasure or suffering. But choices these are; and a choice must be made. Not choosing is still a choice.

But many choices are delayed, avoided, or not made at all, because things weren't "just right." Perfectionism is a kind of procrastination; and we procrastinate to avoid things. Perfectionism isn't based on "joyful expression of one's talents and gifts;" perfectionism is the constant search for, and focusing on, what is missing, or what "still isn't right." Perfectionism is poison to the soul; and it is the opponent of progress, growth, and true joy.

Purposeful expression, art, and creativity, are blissful experiences found by few, but imitated by many. The artist/creator/innovator is pulled and driven by a deep love, or a deep need to express a specific thing - not a "fiddled-with" representation of the initial inspiration. The artist/creator/innovator gives no audience to critics; as critics and nay-sayers are rarely key elements in progress, and more often than not they serve merely as distracting, disheartening, discouraging, bystanders - hecklers, if you will.

Perfectionists, on the other hand, spend all their time thinking about "the critics;" they themselves being their biggest critics of all. Every move a perfectionist makes is based on the outcome - the product that will be "judged." What begins as inspiration becomes a chore. The journey is arduous; and the creative process is painful as well - like a long, drawn-out labor and complicated childbirth versus a quick and effortless delivery. The adventurer lives for the journey; and, as such, is always experiencing progress - always living on purpose. The perfectionist is afraid of what lies ahead - putting off the inevitable until they are as prepared as humanly possible.

Inside every perfectionist there is a creator yearning to express itself without the restraints of fears and limiting beliefs; listen to that voice. Go for it; express your true self. Go with what you know; and, if at first you don't "succeed," take the feedback you have "successfully" gathered, and try again - and repeat as long as you are having fun and enjoying what you are doing. Great joy, like great innovation, is rarely the product of great worrying. You can't be at peace, or having fun, while you're worrying about outcomes.