How I Stopped Trying to Be Perfect

and finally started to see real progress

Do you have the same useless tendency:

Whenever I want to start a habit or restrict myself from eating more sweets, I tend to eat more and do the opposite.

My mind plays with me because it doesn’t believe in me and I’ll fail.

When I skip a day once negative thoughts crash all over me.

And I know why:

I try to be perfect

When I start a habit, I want to do it daily for the rest of my life.

But this means I’m not allowed to skip any day. I try to live the perfect life. And I tell you a secret: it’s not possible.

We can plan and prepare as much as we’d like: life is unpredictable and we are humans. We are not perfect.

I recently went to watch an Austrian comedian and he said that no one is perfect. God didn’t make us perfect.

We can get addicted to something that is unhealthy. Our bodies are not perfect. So why are we trying to be?

Whenever I talk about productivity, I remind my audience: we are not machines. We are humans.

We make mistakes
We need breaks
We have bad days
We can be sick

We tend to think that if we need to be productive, we need to be 100%. No, we don’t!

80% is totally fine!

Having bad days is fine

Life is unpredictable. We are humans.

We will have emergencies or bad days, and that’s okay.

It’s okay to skip a day.

You don’t need to be productive when you’re sick and need to recover. It’s unhealthy to suppress a disease. It can get worse.

Instead of negative thoughts coming up whenever we skip a habit once, we need to accept the imperfection and keep going.

I gave up many habits because I skipped it once and got demotivated. I wrote online in 2018 for a few months but gave up because I skipped some days.

Don’t make the same mistake!

Mindset, beliefs, and thoughts are keeping you from moving on

The first chapter of my online course “Unlocking Productivity” is about mindset.

Without the right mindset, you cannot be as productive as you want to be. It’s about the wrong beliefs society instilled in you and your perfectionism trying to keep you from moving forward imperfectly.

Every first step is imperfect.

Simone Biles’s first gymnastics class wasn’t perfect.

Michael Jordan’s first throw wasn’t perfect.

Taylor Swift’s first song wasn’t perfect.

But they didn’t give up!

They had bad days too, but they overcame their negative thoughts and kept going.

It’s not about the perfect habit of doing it daily but about doing it consistently and not giving up!

I’m not writing the perfect stories, but I’m not giving up, and my writing will get better every day.

Accepting imperfection

I’m not perfect. I accepted that to move forward with imperfection.

My writing is not perfect. Whose stories are perfect?

When I was a teenager, I didn’t want to accept my introversion and did things I didn’t want to do out of group pressure:

partying all night long
going on workshop weekends without any alone time
…

They were depleting my energy tremendously.

I thought that was life for an introvert: trying to be extroverted and having no energy.

I had to accept that I’m not an extrovert. Society shows us that only activities outside, exploring the world, and partying with friends are the fun events we live for.

They are not for everyone. And that’s totally fine.

You can say no to things you don’t like. You do you.

Some friends like to go swimming daily after work to cool down, I prefer to be alone and read or spend it with my boyfriend talking.
After a day at work in an open office, I need time alone.

Growing up, I thought I needed to be an extrovert to be perfect. I’m not an extrovert. And I accept that now. I’m being myself, and that’s imperfectly perfect.