Mid-September 2020 Newsletter

Hello, and a marvelous special Mid-September to you!
Welcome, or welcome back, to my newsletter. Today's issue is about being perfect, or just good enough. Enjoy!

"The perfect is the enemy of the good", a quote attributed to Voltaire, means expending too much effort or time to improve a project until it is absolutely perfect can be counter-productive. Maybe you missed a key deadline, or failed to provide a needed product or service because it didn't meet your very high standards, when it was already superior. In the words of a friend who has done a lot of work on her self-image, "I'm not perfect, but I'm excellent!". Maybe your effort is too.

Back in high school, where I was a top student, I was appalled to find that a passing grade was a mere 75%. Yes I was a perfectionist, with ridiculously high standards (mostly for myself). I know now some students only wanted to pass and get a diploma, then go on to do something they really cared about. I'm remembering an earnest quiet math student from my early teaching days, who only stayed in school to graduate so he could be a master carpenter. I'd bet he became an excellent craftsman. Are you trying to be perfect at something which is not essential for your goals?

Too much adherence to someone else's standards might leave no room for your unique creative talents. If a fish thinks he has to be like a monkey and climb a tree to succeed, he'll consider himself a failure when he can't. How about trying to be the best YOU possible? This handicapped runner isn't holding herself to the same standard as a 5-minute miler, she's competing against other differently-abled folks, and against her own previous race times.

What if you're not defective because you can't meet standards which don't apply to you, you're just different? Perhaps you excel at a skill or a craft in another category, the arts instead of tech, a sport instead of the legal or medical profession. Be perfectly yourself, not a wanna-be copy of someone else's dream of what's right for your life.

Excellence at anything rarely comes overnight. It usually requires one small step at a time up the ladder of mastery, often with a few setbacks or falls on the way. Don't wait for the final destination to be happy with yourself -- celebrate each baby step which helped you get this far. You perfectly completed that step! Now on to the next.

Keeping your focus on learning and growing, rather than on having "arrived", can loosen the obsession with being perfect. "Progress, not perfection", say the Alcoholics Anonymous folks. And whatever your immediate goal. once you reach that, pat yourself on the back and cross it off the list. You'll soon set another goal and start moving toward that. So give yourself credit for being perfectly human (smile), and for continuing to become more of who you were meant to be.

To read about appreciating my good enough (but not perfect) vision, click here.

Have you wondered if my work could help you?
I'm now offering complimentary Discovery Session consultations of 20 minutes or so, for us to discuss what you're looking for in a coach, and to see whether you and I feel like a fit to work together formally. To schedule your Discovery Session, click here.

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Please send me your questions and comments
Let me know what you've wondered about concerning energy medicine or vision or dreams. I'll be glad to write a short article addressing that topic. Thank you to those who have sent me questions, or see a question you asked me in a private session written about here. You're helping many other people! Enjoy the second half of this sensational month of September. I'll write again in a few weeks. Take care!