How I Stopped Being a Perfectionist

by Marcia Hoeck on April 16, 2010

This post is dedicated to Melanie. It was inspired by a post on her Solo Mompreneur blog. Actually, it’s basically my comment to her post about perfectionism. Because I, too, used to be a perfectionist.

And this is a true story.

Notice I say I used to be a perfectionist — I’m not anymore. But I was. I mean, like, my name was on the door, right? I had to do everything. And then I got really busy and grew really fast and I had to hire people. So what did I do then? After they went home at night, I stayed and redid all the work on their desks.

Yes, I did.

They’d come in in the morning to notes all over their work — could you imagine? But I didn’t think they could do it as well as I could.

Then we kept getting busier still and finally things started slipping thru the cracks and I started missing things. I couldn’t redo everything — and some stuff got out to clients before I could redo it. And guess what? The clients loved it! I couldn’t believe that my clients loved stuff that *I* didn’t do!

It stopped me dead in my tracks. Suddenly I could let other people help and the clients liked it just as much as when I did it — sometimes better. I started making more money because more of us could work on things. I didn’t have to put in as many hours or stress out half as much. It started feeling really good!

And that’s how I stopped being a perfectionist.

{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }

Cindy Caldwell September 17, 2010 at 2:31 pm

I like to think of it as ‘inspired action.’ If I am inspired to make it and it FEELS right, that’s always perfect — for me. What is perfection, anyway?

Marcia September 23, 2010 at 2:28 pm

That’s right, Cindy — if what you decide to do is right for you, then it IS perfect!

My perfectionism was hanging me up, wearing me out, and frustrating everyone around me. So that wasn’t very perfect, was it?

M

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