Well hello there, you macaroons! I hope you’re doing fantabulous. Would you look at that: it’s my third blog post in a row! I haven’t had a streak like this with my blog in two years. Two years! You’re probably thinking “This guy… Tooting his own horn just because he’s posted once a week on his blog for three weeks in a row… Sheesh!” You’re probably right. But hey, if I don’t toot my own horn first, who will?
Today we’ll be talking about being perfect —letting go of the need to be, that is. If you really look at it, trying to be perfect is a fear we have of not being enough. You feel you won’t be enough if you’re not perfect and nobody will love you — boohoo. You feel you won’t get the approval you seek from daddy/mommy/whomever it is you’re trying to impress. Heck, I know I worked through this before. It occasionally shows up again — and you bet that I make sure to move past it and destroy it! It’s the only way to do it! You can make your fears your allies. Overcome them!
When I started doing stand up, or acting or whatever it is you’d like to insert there: I sucked at it. I put so much pressure on myself to “succeed at perfection.” I was so bad that I would freeze and tank. Pure horribility (I know that’s not a word… I got the red squiggly. Put your panties in a knapsack — that’s not a saying either!) The point is you’d think that you were going to die a thousand deaths… Only to find out that it wasn’t all that bad. You’re mind was playing a trick on you! Why go through that many deaths if it wasn’t all that bad?
The problem is that the mind makes you think that “failing” is bad. When in reality “failing” is the only way to grow! What’s the worst that could happen if you failed? Unless you’re an astronaut, or doctor or… Okay, so there are plenty professions that can cause damage/harm if you don’t perform at your peak. But hey! That’s why you practice! You let yourself have so many mistakes in practice that when it comes time for the moment of truth: you’ve got this! Only remember to practice the poop out of it.
Besides, it’s not a failure if you’re learning from it! It would only be failure if you keep making the same mistakes over and over again. There’s something that’ll drive you mad. Albie Einstein said “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result.” I know that quote is overused, but it’s a darned amazing one!
If what you’re doing isn’t working, change it! At least if you do something different and it doesn’t work, you now have another way of knowing “how not to do” something. It can be worse or better, but at least it’s a different result. It’s something you can work with. What you do with these results is write them down, record yourself or bake a cake in commemoration of what you did so you have a reference for it. How else are you going to remember what worked and what didn’t? This is the only way you’ll know how you’ve been growing. So keep track of it. Plus, you can learn from others as well! This way you don’t have to go through years of experience doing something others have done and laid out for you!
Hey look, it's Baxie! She's perfect... 99.9% of the time.
What happens if you find yourself in a sea of nothingness? You keep going and changing what you’re doing and still nothing seems to work? You keep going, that’s what! You’d be surprised how close you are to finding the solution. I’ve been there. You feel stuck and as if nothing that you do is useful. If you only knew you were one tumble away from around the corner! Frustration is a good thing. You know when you’re frustrated that you’re about to achieve something. So welcome it. Don’t lose faith. Use it to fuel you so you can destroy the obstacles that are in your way!
I’ll be honest with ya… I was all up and ready to publish this a while ago, but when I hit the “Publish” button, there was an error. That error usually means that the session timed out. So, I copied my work and refreshed the page… Only to paste this: “Tommy Edison found 9,999 ways NOT TO make a lightbulb.” That’s all the thing pasted. But hey, everything happens for a reason! Plus, I wouldn’t be taking my own advice if I didn’t learn from this: Write it down on something other than the website editor first, you dumbbell!
So now you’ll never know you bunch of scallywags! What was the quote referencing? You can probably figure it out… And the only reason I didn’t put it back in was to reference it here. So there you have it! If you have any comments, questions, personal stories or feedback, sound off below!