I am a perfectionist and I worship at the altar of effort. Somehow, I accidentally initiated myself into the world's bitchiest sorority and the hazing never stops.
While pledging, I promised to never be satisfied with my best and always to clench my mental fists whenever doing anything remotely significant, This is my own pilot's checklist for achieving minimum required success. Do you relate?
This maladaptive drive loses sight of the destination and repeats often "if it is painful, it is working."
For those of us locked into this cycle, our best is 150% effort and phoning it in ends at 101%. Others have said that 80% with an occasional judicious 100% is enough and even more effective, but we don't believe them, at least not for us. This is 100% necessary for us. It could be because our goals seem bigger than those of others. It could be because we fear our good enough is not good enough. For those of us locked into this cycle, we need to seek people and ideas that provide moments of conflict that give the truth a fighting chance in the face of the fears and beliefs we continue to revalidate every time we work harder and longer than we should. Here is one. Enjoy the tussle!
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