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Imagine the worst-case scenario
Perfectionism often occurs as a result of the fear of embarrassment or failure. But being too careful ends up stifling creativity and innovation. When you find yourself being held back by perfectionist thinking, think of the worst-case scenarios and how unlikely it is to happen. And even if it were to happen, ask yourself how disastrous this event would be. Once you’ve done this, compare the worst-case scenario to the most likely things that can happen. Doing this lets you realise that your perfectionist thoughts are nothing but irrational.Get rid of all-or-nothing thinking
All-or-nothing thinking is the mindset that drives perfectionist thinking. Perfectionists tend to see everything through strict dichotomies such as “success” or “failure, “winner” or “loser”, “all” or “nothing”. Such irrational thinking never leads to anything substantial and only limits progress to a significant extent. In real life, there’s no success story without failures along the way. No entrepreneur hasn’t failed in some way. No producer has not struggled before coming up with their best work. Life is in stages. The more you work at something, the better you get at it. Allow yourself to do things imperfectly first. In time, you will learn what works and what doesn’t as you keep experimenting and learning from your mistakes.Practise self-love
Perfectionists tend to focus on all the things they are doing wrong and forget the things they are doing well. Start focusing on your positive traits. What are the most recent things you’ve done right to accomplish your goals? Bring them up whenever your negative self-talk sets in. As you do this, you’ll begin to appreciate your strengths and build confidence in your abilities.Sign up to the Connect Nigeria daily newsletter
Put your perfectionist thoughts to test
Sometimes the best way to get over negative thoughts is to put them to test by taking action. Do experiments to see what happens when you practice delivering “good enough” as opposed to “perfect”. Start with low-risk situations and increase the level of difficulty as you go. Do this often and you’ll start cultivating a more realistic way of thinking. Perfectionism is a habit and like all habits, you have to create a better one to replace it, so practice. Featured image source: HypestationGot a suggestion? Contact us: editor at connectnigeria dot com
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