Is perfectionism keeping you from achieving your goals? Whether you want to start or grow a coaching business or achieve any other goal in life, perfectionism can really get in your way and slow you down. If you’re staying in the “planning” stage of your goals, hiding behind-the-scenes, and waiting to take action until you feel perfectly ready, this post is for you. Read on to learn my top tips for overcoming perfectionism!
Ever find yourself overthinking something to the point that you keep getting in your own way, or you don’t even get started?
Or maybe you find yourself in perpetual planning mode, waiting to take action until you’ve perfected your strategy?
Is “Analysis Paralysis” your middle name?
If so, you might be stuck in perfectionism.
Perfectionism can show up in so many ways in your life, and what most people don’t realize is that it’s really a form of self-sabotage.
If you wait until you feel perfectly ready to start your coaching business, or take whatever the next step in life looks like for you… you’re going to miss out on so many amazing clients and opportunities!
So today I want to share with you my top tips for overcoming perfectionism.
What are the Signs of Perfectionism?
If you’re a perfectionist, chances are that you overthink and over-prepare for everything.
Perfectionism can show up as buying ALL the courses or watching ALL the YouTube videos about something before you feel you can get started on your project or goal.
Maybe you’ve rewritten your Instagram bio a thousand times and you still don’t feel ready to start promoting your business.
Or maybe you’re still in the stage where you’re journaling ideas and making plans… but not taking action on any of them.
Well, guess what?
All that planning, perfecting, and honing your skills can actually be your perfectionism running the show… and it’s essentially showing up in your life as procrastination and busywork.
When you’re starting a coaching business, this translates into spending a lot of time in your own space and in your own head… instead of reaching out and interacting with the people who will take you to the next level.
If you’re not talking to potential clients, creating life-changing programs, asking for the sale, and sharing your powerful message then your business can’t move forward.
This is how perfectionism keeps you from growing — by keeping you second-guessing yourself and not taking any action that might actually move the needle for you.
Where Does Perfectionism Come From?
Perfectionism is a form of self-sabotage that shows up because of beliefs stored in your subconscious mind.
Your subconscious beliefs can creep in and tell you that you aren’t good enough and surely have to do “something else” in order to keep getting incredible results.
A lot of people are raised with the belief that anything worth having should be hard work. So what happens is you start experiencing success, and you notice that it’s ‘easier’ and it’s ‘flowing’ so your old programming kicks in and says ‘If it’s easy, I must be doing something wrong…’
So you immediately started looking for ways to make things harder on yourself without even realizing it.
Your subconscious mind will never make you a liar… and if you only value yourself as a hardworking person, it will continue to bring you opportunities to prove what a hardworking person you are.
If you look down on someone else or throw shade at them for having things “too easy,” your subconscious mind will take it personally and make sure you don’t have things easy either.
Most people don’t realize this, but criticism of others is actually a tell-tale sign of being a self-critical person.
So when it comes to overcoming perfectionism and achieving your goals, start to become aware of when you criticize or judge others… because it could really be a criticism of your shadow self — the parts of you that you really want to express but are trying to hide.
Tools for Overcoming Perfectionism
Release Anxiety with EFT Tapping
Struggling to take action on something because of perfectionism?
Perfectionism and feelings of anxiety go hand-in-hand, and it can be SO helpful to have tools to release it so that you can move forward and take action on your goals.
Emotional Freedom Technique, or EFT Tapping, is one of my favorite tools for releasing anxiety or stored emotions by tapping on energy meridian points in the body.
I used to struggle with anxiety or other emotions slowing me down, but now I just tap them away! YouTube EFT Tapping Exercise when you’re feeling anxious.
There is No Failure, Only Feedback
One of the basic principles we follow from Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) is that there is no failure, only feedback.
No matter what goal you go after in life, there is going to be some trial and error involved. Maybe every action you take won’t yield your desired result, but it will help you get closer to the ones that do. All you have to do is see how every ordeal you go through, you grow through- and it is a learning opportunity.
Do you see how perfectionism actually prevents you from learning these lessons?
Think of the famous story of Thomas Edison trying 10,000 filaments just to find the one that he ended up using in the lightbulb… to which he famously said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
When you adopt this belief, you shift into a growth mindset, which means that you exponentially open up your ability to learn from your experiences.
Take Action (And Don’t Overcomplicate It!)
One of the biggest mistakes I see people making when they’re stuck in perfectionism is trying to fix something that isn’t broken.
Have you achieved a version of that same success on a smaller scale?
Instead of reinventing the wheel, can you repeat that process?
Instead of spreading yourself too thin, can you focus on what you’re best at?
When you simplify, minimize, and identify what skills you can master that add value to others’ lives, then that’s where you can put your focus to magnify your efforts.
Think about when you hold a magnifying glass up to the sun and the beam that shines through becomes strong enough to start a fire.
That’s what it’s like when you put focused attention on the actions that get you results.
Keep in mind that with every step you take, every post you write, every video you make, you’ll be learning and improving along the way.
When I first started, I wasn’t used to making videos, and I’d often get nervous or run out of things to say after a few minutes! Now, I show up on video almost daily… and I can hit that “live” button without worrying about exactly what I’m going to say… and my company just keeps growing!
I never would’ve reached this point if I had just tried making videos once or twice and decided I wasn’t any good at it. I had to keep improving and keep establishing myself as someone who people could come to in order to learn about mindset.
So make sure to stick with your strategies long enough to let them pay off!
Even if you’re just taking baby steps at first, you’ll find that you’ll grow, learn more about yourself, and get much better results than if you wait until you reach some imaginary idea of “perfect.”
So let me ask you this:
What baby steps can you take towards your goals today?
Are you ready to build your business and create your legacy?
We believe every woman can build a legacy. In each woman is passion, creativity, and determination. At Legacy Creative, we help women entrepreneurs realize their dreams and push their businesses forward. Click here to apply to work with with us so that we can show you the way!