Strive for excellence rather than starve from perfection.

It’s Monday morning, it’s 9:05 and you should have left the house on your way to work already. Instead you’re standing there in front of the mirror with hairspray in one hand, a comb in the other and bobby pins in between your teeth desperately trying to perfect your quiff for the tenth time. The tension, stress and anxiety are mounting and you’re near tipping point.

There comes a time when you need to realise that looking immaculate, having the perfect persona and behaving inconspicuously does not and will not equate to you being perfect and that’s ok.

I used to think that being perfect would protect me from rejection and judgement from others. What I realised was that in the process I was losing who I was because I wasn’t being myself and I wasn’t really enjoying my life. I had made such a mask for myself, hiding behind it constantly that it meant I wasn’t allowing anyone else in. Nobody really knew the real me. I was fearful that if I behaved like me that I wouldn’t be liked, I wouldn’t be good enough or I’d be mocked. Or even worse, I’d be ignored.

It’s easy to believe in today’s society that we should have the perfect skin, the perfect body, the perfect life. In reality that’s not possible. Perfection is always out of reach, no matter how hard we try.

5 tips to strive for excellence rather than starve from perfection:

1. Accept that everyone has a different perspective and opinion to you and you do not need to be liked by everyone. Uniqueness is a good thing.

2. Learn to accept judgement and criticism and use any positive comments to create improvement and forget the rest.

3. Aim for an excellent effort not a perfect one. This way you are open for more personal growth to occur.

4. Set realistic expectations for yourself. Rather than setting a goal of achieving 20 things, halve the list and set aside an accurate amount of time to achieve  them.

5. Ask yourself if what you are doing is what you really want to do or if you are doing it because you are fearful of judgement and or failure.

Implement change today to become the person you want to be tomorrow, I dare you to! Break down the façade, start sitting in the front row of your life and shine.

Article written by Jayne Robinson, life coach. Read more about Jayne here.