After a recent bout of contending with my own perfectionism, I had a profound realization.
Perhaps calling myself a recovering perfectionist is incorrect.
Maybe my perfectionism isn’t something that I need to fix about myself. Perhaps the work is more about recognizing when I’m disconnected from my wise self and deploying the right tools to get back on track.
What if we’re all just perfectly imperfect works in progress? And what would it take for us to cultivate deep self-compassion when perfectionism shows up in our lives?
Today, I invite you to join me in this investigation of your perfectionism with a heart full of compassion for yourself and the messy, imperfect process we all go through.
Through mental rehearsal, or cognitive priming, I’ll lead you on a thought experiment designed to help you loosen your grip on perfectionism and move closer to right-sizing your effort.
This journey is about understanding and supporting yourself through the messy, imperfect process we all go through. (And how we can still get great results along the way!)
Listen to the full episode to hear:
- Defining the spectrums of perfectionism and perfectionism’s underlying “promise”
- Differentiating between beneficial high standards and stress-inducing patterns and behaviors
- The benefits of mentally rehearsing a potential scenario
- A thought experiment to help you lower your internal bar and half-ass it
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What is Becoming Power?
What is power? Well, that's complicated. We've learned to associate power with money, influence, position, fame, politics, and even certain bodies. Becoming Power is a podcast about a different perspective on power. Host Valerie Black highlights how true power emerges from the practices that help us transform and evolve as humans and serve as a foundation for our work in the world. She talks with leaders, executives, athletes, and activists about how they nurture their own inner power. Valerie analyzes their insights and turns them into meditations, visualizations, and bite-sized experiments for you to integrate into your own life. Whether you're looking for a greater sense of power at work, a deeper relationship with yourself, or ideas for developing your own powerful practices, Becoming Power is for you.