3 Ways To Overcome A Perfectionist Mindset
Written by: Brad Bizjack, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Perfection is the lowest standard you can have for yourself. Why? Because perfection is impossible. It’s like chasing after a moving target… and that target is irrevocably tied to your self-worth.
If you succeed as a perfectionist, your accomplishments will never feel like enough because there’s always something more for you to do or have done. Your efforts will be endless and burnout a constant companion. On the opposite end of the spectrum, perfectionism can keep you from ever starting anything at all for fear of failure, in which case guilt follows swiftly after your inaction. It’s a cruel cycle of disempowerment that will forever keep you from reaching your true potential, but thankfully, it can be overcome.
Rather than take on perfection as an identity, regard it as a habit. Habits can be changed! The following three actions can then be taken to interrupt and overcome a perfectionist mindset and ditch those pesky feelings of negativity that accompany it.
1. Change Your Physiology
When you exercise you feel good and alive—if not sweaty and slightly out of breath. When you stay slouched all day in a chair, you feel pretty bad, maybe even worthless. Why? Because we do our emotions. They don’t just happen to us.
That means when you feel yourself falling prey to a perfectionist mindset or rather, perfectionist habits, a radical and rapid change of state is necessary. Try laughing hysterically for 30 seconds, do 25 jumping jacks, or run laps around your house. How you use your body determines the biochemistry that goes on through your brain. The sudden shift in your body’s energy will allow you to break past the confines of your perfectionism and forge ahead more energized and empowered.
2. Change Your Focus
Whatever you focus on you will feel. Why? Because focus equals reality to the individual, even if it’s not a reality in actuality. For example, if you focus on what you don’t have, you will feel it. If you focus on the past, you will feel it. If you focus on what’s hurting you, you will feel it.
You get the picture.
Instead, place your focus where it will serve you, like on the things you can control and what sets your heart on fire. In this way, you can flood yourself with positivity and curate more energy to go after what inspires you the most.
3. Change Your Language
Words transform emotion. Thus, the words you use to describe your experience, become your experience. Employing transformational vocabulary to reset and reframe your experiences can quickly turn a rough day into a promising one.
Take for example these phrases. Which ones allow you to stay more centered and hopeful?
“I’m so pissed off,” or “I’m a little bit disappointed.”
“I’m at the end of my rope!” or “I’m being held together by the rope of faith.”
The latter two! Words are powerful tools and can be easily used to lift yourself up if you allow them to.
Use these three state-changing tools to break from perfectionism or any other disempowering mindset you’re caught in. For more ways to unlock empowerment that will guide you toward a limitless future, check out my free 60-second quiz What’s YOUR Unique Success Type.
Brad Bizjack, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Brad Bizjack is a personal development expert, mindset strategist and coach, inspirational speaker, and podcast host with over 9 years of coaching experience. He's coached over 10,000 people in the area of personal development and human potential. His mission is to help people maximize their life, master their mindset, and elevate their relationships and career to the next level and beyond! Brad is happily married to his beautiful wife, Janiece. They reside in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago and have a little girl named Lillian and a dog named Oliver.
