Intro by Skip Cohen
“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new!”
Albert Einstein
Suzette Allen is back today with some amazing insight into the quest for perfectionism. While it might seem admirable to start, it’s a killer when it comes to reaching your real potential. And, if you think about it, thanks to changing technology, your ability to keep expanding your skill set, your passion for the craft and a world of consumers who have a never-ending need to document their story and memories – YOUR POTENTIAL HAS NO CEILING!
Suzette’s insight is something we can all identify with. It takes courage and drive to keep growing and regularly step out of our comfort zones! But the risk/investment in walking down a new path is remarkable, and it’s what keeps our creative juices flowing!
By Suzette Allen
The only way to become good at something is to practice it and do it until it becomes easy. Then do it until we become excellent at it and feel confident and can experience a level of mastery; confidence and a lack of fear. It’s a great feeling and many of us have applied ourselves to our passions or our jobs until we have achieved that level of comfort, mastery and confidence! [perhaps even a little pride, but there’s nothing wrong with being a little proud of our accomplishments!]
It is such a great feeling that we want to live there–even stay there– and we actually pass up opportunities to grow and become more because we know we will instantly go back to square one – feeling inadequate, frustrated, a lack of confidence and definitely unable to produce a product of excellence like we can in other areas. No one wants to be there. No one wants to feel lame or impaired or be a rookie or newbie, especially when they have been living in the mastery zone awhile.
We fear failure. We fear what people will think. We may even doubt our own abilities to try new things! (“Old dog – new tricks?”) But wait! There’s something on the other side of learning new things that you need: your future and your potential and your destiny.
We are destined to be better than we are today and agile enough to adapt to the changes that happen in life so we can continue being successful in whatever we do. Times change. Everything changes! And we must change with them to maintain our relationships, careers, health, happiness and success. Part of changing and adapting and growing to our potential is learning new things. That’s why perfectionism is a potential killer. Not potentially a killer, but a certain killer of your potential!
If you let fear and uncertainty (or even pride) keep you from learning new things or trying new things or being a neophyte at something; unwilling to fail (aka learn), you will miss your potential. You risk being ineffective in your job, unresponsive in your relationships, dry in your expression, stale in your creativity, irrelevant in your leadership, etc.
Continued success in life –or in any area- requires change, which requires stretching out of your comfort zone and your area of mastery. So decide today to do something new – something you’re not good at yet! But don’t fear the criticism – and don’t be too hard on yourself either! Pat yourself on the back for your bravery! Push through the feelings of frustration and not measuring up – feel great about being one of the truly successful ones – ones who are willing to step up to the plate and try something new!
