In my early twenties I attended a training course to improve my skills working as a corporate trainer. I loved my job. I enjoyed working with people, and presenting to large groups was an absolute blast. In fact, I still enjoy public speaking today. The course required everyone who attended to give a presentation to the group. I couldn’t wait for my turn. Most of the presenters before me were nervous, afraid and unsure on stage. When I took to the stage I owned it, loved it and grabbed the attention of my audience. We were critiqued afterwards, and my assessor told me I did an awesome job. On the inside I was bursting with pride, but I didn’t feel it was appropriate to be too joyous because my peers had not received the same feedback. My assessor noted my subdued response and immediately said “Leanne, it’s ok to be good at what you do. It’s ok to own your talent and be proud of it.” That was the first time someone had given me permission to truly own my abilities. I talked more about that experience in an earlier post here.
How often do we grant ourselves our own sense of perfection? Even privately, how often do we congratulate ourselves for a job well done? We’re so conditioned in our culture to think “there’s always room for improvement” that we miss celebrating our own wonder in any given moment. I was taught that positive reinforcement is a widely recognised motivation tool. How sad that we often forget to apply it to ourselves. I’m going to make an effort to congratulate myself this week for the jobs I am bound to do well! I might even go one step further, be bold and share my accomplishments with others. When was the last time you told someone about a task/job that you did brilliantly? Why is it ok to praise others but never ourselves?
Of course, the flip side of this is managing the drive for perfection – or perfrection as I have called it. To be deserving of praise. An obsession to produce perfect work – work that is worthy of praise can be a very draining process. Just leaving my deliberate error in this title is sheer torment. Second guessing what other’s may think about a misplaced letter, incorrect grammar or poor spelling smothers the creative process. How ironic that a need for perfection may actually produce work that is far from perfect! How brilliant would the world be if we just tagged everything that is produced in the now as utterly perfect. Unconditional perfection. This relates back to my view of myself. Once I realise I am good enough, and have chosen to do the best I can at any given moment I will see perfection in all that I produce and this will definitely be something worth celebrating…
