Thanks for dropping by, John and BloggerLuv are wonderful, I’m glad you were able to find me through them.

Warmest
c

I’ll see your “Excellent” and raise it one “Good enough”. LOL
Seriously, I appreciate this post, as I too have battled the demon of perfectionism. From poetry to programming, I was never satisfied until the end result gleamed.

As productivity plummeted, I realized that perfect was the culprit. Releasing the “chokehold”, as you so aptly put it, gave me a chance share my creativity in a form that was still appreciated by recipients. Let’s face it, we don’t people to think our work sucks.

However, I agree that when we see that the rest of the world isn’t perfect, it eases the discomfort of baring our souls to strangers, as it were.

Anyway, I’m glad John mentioned this post on BloggerLuv. I look forward to reading more of your steel-toed writing!

Cheers,

Mitch

c

I’m certain you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how much you accomplish once you do. And feel free to get in touch and let me know how it’s working for you… I’ll give you a healthy boot in the pants if you need it. :)

Warmest
C

Great post…and I see you’ve come a loooong ways from the first time I “met’ you at the Earn1kaDay forum. It’s great to see your success.

This post really hit home for me as I am a recovering perfectionist myself. I won’t even tell you how long it takes me to write a simple 400 word post:) Your post has inspired me, however, to let go and just get my stuff out there and not worry about being perfect – because such a thing doesn’t exist.

Good luck in reaching your goal of 2,000 subscribers – if you’re not there already!

Travis Van Slooten

C

Thanks for the great post.

Congrats to you on raising great kids excellence rather than perfection! I think that when you focus on excellence, you focus on your strengths rather than struggling to overcome flaws and focusing on what are percieved as weaknesses. And that’s so important, because our society teaches way too much (in my book) that you must strengthen your weak areas to acheive success in your life.

I feel the opposite, that it’s setting you up to fail and it’s way more important to focus on what you’re good at.. and invariably what you’re good at is often something you love or enjoy doing. (most of the time!lol)

Anyway, thanks so much for the thoughtful comment, it sounds like you have a lot to be proud of! :)

Warmest
C

I have a touch of perfectionism myself…who am I kidding – I am extremely perfectionistic. But I learned a long time ago that parenting and perfectionism don’t go together. Moreover, I’ve been a home-schooling parent for 20 years and if you are going to spend 24/7 with your kids…well, you can guess that there are going to be a lot of imperfect moments.

I also came to the conclusion a long time ago that my goal for myself, and my children, would not be perfection, but excellence. I would have to say that has been one of the guiding principles I have used in raising and home-schooling my kids, and it has paid off in spades.

I have two grown children, and “excellent” would certainly fit them. They both have a fantastic work ethic, they are considerate, and accomplished. I have also have two younger boys, and I am continuing to use that guiding principle of excellence with them.

My oldest son is so like me in personality, but I think by emphasizing to my kids that they pursue excellence, not perfection, I have been able to help him avoid some of the issues I struggled with for so long.

In any case, I love the word pictures you use (give imperfection a great big juicy kiss…). From one recovering perfectionist to another, good work!

Warmest
Cori

Fantastic piece, We may have different goals in what we want to accomplish in both our online work and personal life however I have always admired the integrity in the things I have seen you do. I do a lot of guiding people in their personal growth and development In hope that one day I may change the world, even just a little. I use the same basic principals in everything I teach, learn the lesson, forgive the mistakes you make as you learn and simply move forward always.

Again, great work!

Robert Gebbie
RGebbiePhoto

Eases my mind some that someone else suffered from it.

Thank you for this post. :-)

@Zoey- LOL..thanks hun! Reformed and recovering..what a pair huh?

@Craig- Thanks Craig! My advice is don’t worry about the past and the opportunities you may have missed… focus on the future and letting go of the idea of perfect, and start opening yourself up to the new possiblities that will likely begin revealing themselves more and more every day. And definitely, focus on excellence.. not perfect! ;)

@Walker- That is awesome! Congrats to you with the freelancing AND blog number 3! Keep focusing on the great things you’ve acheived thus far, and it will keep going up.. momentum begets momentum. :)

@Leanne- Ha ha… see I knew I wasn’t alone with the m&m thing! ;) Make Excellence you’re new mantra and see where it takes ya. I’m pretty sure a lot farther than perfect! And your comment was just right my friend… who knew we were so alike? Hugs, thanks for dropping by!

Don’t have to be perfect.

“Just make it your goal to always give your best; to strive for “excellent” in everything you do… and you’ll get as pretty darn close to perfect as you’ll likely ever be.”

Great advice.

Thanks for the post.