Everyone wants to do amazing things.
Well maybe not everyone, but most people want more from their lives.
What stops most people from achieving great things?
Fear. Doubt. Perfectionism.
For some reason, as soon as we become adults, we want to either be amazing at something in the first five minutes, or we don't even attempt it.
This goes for learning a new physical skill, writing a book, starting a business, working out again after many years of non-activity and many many other things.
A couple of years ago I learned a magical phrase from one of my teachers, Marie Forleo. I'm not sure if she coined the phrase but she's definitely the first person I've heard say it.
Progress not perfection.
These three simple words can help you a thousand fold in your life. They can free you from keeping impossibly high standards for yourself, and instead lead you to focus on a goal one step at a time.
These three magical words will change how you look at life.
At the start of the year I made some tweaks to my morning and evening routines. It's hard to start new habits, even for someone like me that fully understands the benefits of them. I've been starting, stopping, resetting and starting again.
You want to know what I've been repeating to myself?
Progress not perfection.
What these magical words do is stop me from having a shame spiral just because I'm not perfect at implementing a new routine. Instead I take some time to assess where I can do better.
And you know what? It's been working!
Each week I've managed to tweak my morning and evening routines a little bit more. Those positive changes have resulted in some of the shifts I've been wanting to create in my life.
What if I had not been using those three magical words? I'd likely be feeling bad and still stuck where I was at the start of the year.
There are countless applications for this life philosophy.
Starting a new workout routine? Remind yourself as you move that you're aiming for progress not perfection.
You've learned that meditation is really amazing and you've started to incorporate it. Instead of trying to reach enlightenment in one day, you can remind yourself of the progress not perfection philosophy. That way if your meditation is challenging it's not a big deal.
You're showing up. That's all that matters.
What about if you just started a business? As any entrepreneur will tell you, there's so much to learn. This is where the progress not perfection idea comes in super handy. Mistakes are inevitable. As long as you're learning, growing and failing forward you're succeeding.
Where in your life can this philosophy help you?
What could you start to do today that you haven't been doing? How can the idea of progress not perfection help you go after some of the goals you've been putting off?
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Let me know how it goes with applying this. I'd love to hear what happens!
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