Perfectionism is where we hide our magic from the world

​As we strive for perfection, I wonder how much magic the world never gets to see? How many gifts do we NOT put into the world because we wrongly believe the gift just isn't good enough.

What you are reading from me right now - years ago you wouldn't have been able to read this. Because years ago I'd have been sitting here writing and then rewriting and then rewriting again. Soon enough, all the rewriting would be a signal to me that the writing just wasn't good enough.

I would have hit delete. Walked away. I would have walked away and hid inside the bubble of perfectionism.

Perfectionism convinces us we're doing the noble thing - not putting effort into something that would only waste the world's time.

I've learned a few things about that line of thinking.

The world is much better at deciding what a waste of their time is than I am. It's hard enough for me to manage my time. No sense trying to manage the world's.

Because the world is so inherently imperfect - (whether they acknowledge it or not) - the world often finds far more magic in my imperfections than they do in whatever I would consider perfect. I've discovered we relate far better to one anothers imperfections than we do each others' fruitless pursuits of perfection.

And there is this: effort is contagious. When I pour effort into one thing, I'm driven to pour effort into my other things.

Sort of like perfectionism is contagious. When I give up on my writing because it's imperfect, I begin to hide from everything else in my life for the very same reason.

Nothing remarkable in this world comes from the pursuit of perfection. The magic comes from getting out of bed this Monday, putting forth the effort, and being so fired up about that effort that you can't wait to repeat it tomorrow.

So get up today and put some effort into something that moves you forward. Something that takes a step. And if it's an imperfect step - PLEASE share just how imperfect it was with us.

It will make us all feel a little better about our own imperfect efforts.

It will inspire us all to move a little closer to our own magic.