Don’t do it! Don’t fall into the trap so many of us do at the start of the year. Set “resolutions”, go gung-ho, and then as soon as you falter, completely give up. Sound familiar?
A common emotional response to the backslide is to tell ourselves, “If I can’t do it perfectly, don’t bother doing it at all.”
I get it. You all read how upset I was when I missed a day in my 10,000 steps a day commitment. It took a long time to break myself from the easy out and give up. For the record, I hit it the next day and every day after. It wasn’t perfect, but I still feel damn good about the consistency.
| Even on vacation, getting my 10,000 steps. |
I remember early on when I was training a group, I always noticed if there was someone in the room that wasn’t on board. I would then hyperfocus on trying to win them over, often to the determinant of the rest of the participants engagement. It took a long time to accept that striving for perfection often results in a far less ideal result.
As a leader, perfection can make employees feel like it is never good enough. You can disempower those around you. You can delay results.
Here is a tip, perfectionism is rooted in fear. (Click to tweet).