Progress over perfection

Being a perfectionist is an exhausting and stressful way to live because it's rarely about delivering excellent work. Instead, perfectionism is driven primarily by internal pressure for outside validation.

The desire to avoid failure or harsh judgment causes many people to set unhealthy expectations and put massive pressure on themselves, leading to severe stress, anxiety, and even burnout.

For some people, it leads to an all-or-nothing mentality, and they end up procrastinating on projects out of fear of not reaching peak levels of accomplishment. They let the possibility of appearing imperfect hold them back from going after their dreams.

Both maladaptive ways of thinking have been intensified due to living in the age of social media, where everyone's life looks perfect from the highlight reel they post online.

The next time you feel completely overwhelmed by your desperate need to be perfect, remind yourself that perfection is an unattainable goal. The pressure you are putting on yourself signals something deeper is bothering you, and you need to give that attention. Also, nobody's life is perfect. If it appears that way, you simply aren't seeing the struggles and hard work behind their success.

Rather than make yourself sick with fear of being human, I encourage you to resolve to embrace every aspect of your journey towards growth and success: the good, the bad, and the messy middle. Focus on doing your best but treat areas with room for improvement and missteps as opportunities to learn and improve.

That is the best way to feel energized and enthused as you work towards your goals.