Weekly Gratitude – The Daunting Task of Being Perfect

This week’s words are dedicated to those of you who had great intentions but have still not started this project due to a plethora of reasons. I’m sure they are all good ones and I am not here to discount any of them but I am here to challenge you to make this week be the week to jump in with both feet.

Assuming you’re still interested.

I am loving this project so much that I started getting my son to play along, too. As I’ve already mentioned, I write down three things I’m grateful for each day and as of a few weeks ago now I write two things my son’s grateful for each day, too. It’s become one of our bedtime rituals. If you have little ones, I highly recommend it.

Back to my point, I was listening to a podcast today and some artists were discussing how they cannot start a project because they can’t think of the perfect medium or the perfect time or they don’t have it all planned out yet and so they can’t even begin. I am a big planner, so I totally understand the need to have things figured out before you start but at the same time, I also believe in the power of diving in with both feet. Is it better to have nothing instead of something imperfect?

There are cases where I can see the value of being perfect (or as close as possible). If it’s for a job where you might otherwise be fired or hurt someone (like a doctor might). If it’s something where the goal is to master that particular craft or field etc. I can understand the need to be perfect in some cases.

Yet, I doubt that applies here. When you first heard about Weekly Gratitude and thought it would be a good idea and decided you wanted to play along, why did you want to do it? I imagine some of you thought it would make you more aware of how great your life is. Others thought it might be an exercise in mindfulness. Or a good reason to create regular pieces of art. Or make a little minibook.

I just can’t imagine you thought, “Well if I don’t do this perfectly, it will have been a complete waste.”

Seriously?

I think most people strive to be perfect because they think others will judge them if they are not. Let me tell you a secret: no one cares if your art isn’t perfect. No one cares if you didn’t spell a word correctly. No one cares if your lines are a bit crooked. Well…maybe a few people do. But those are not the kind of people you would like. No one actually spends any time looking at someone else’s work in detail and tearing it apart. Only small people do that and you don’t care what small people think. Trust me, you don’t.

So if you end up not doing your project because you’re worried what others will say, do you know who loses in the end?

Yep, you got it.

You.

You lose. Because while they won’t even remember your name a week from now, you’re the one who let that get to you and didn’t practice gratitude. Didn’t do art. Didn’t go for something you wanted just cause someone, somewhere might think you’re not perfect.

Sorry to make you mad but let me tell you: You’re not perfect. You’re not. Neither is your neighbor. Or the person whom you admire online. Or the “famous” person you wish you could be like. Etc etc. No person is perfect. Not to mention perfect is a moving target. The closer you get to it, the more flaws you see, the farther it gets. You never reach it.

Nor should you aim to.

I’m not one to tell you what to do in your life (even though I just did a bit) but I do have a challenge for you. If you’re one of those people who hasn’t started this habit because you haven’t found the perfect way to do it or the perfect album to put it in, I challenge you to throw all that out the window this week. Just pick a way and do it. Jot it on the back of your grocery list. Record it while you’re driving. Whatever, I don’t care. Just take a moment to be grateful. (This goes for those of you who started the project but haven’t done a thing for weeks, too. You haven’t failed. You can pick up and move on. You don’t have to go back and fill in. Just move forward. I promise, there is no WG police to come get you.)

Perfectionism can be a good drive for some people. An excuse to thrive and aim higher. And, in those cases, it’s a valuable tool. But for most people it’s crippling. It’s what stops you from functioning or accomplishing. In the case of this exercise, it’s possibly stopping you from feeling better. From realizing the good in your life.

Isn’t it worth it to let it go for a few weeks and see if you can enjoy being grateful?

Let me reiterate: there is no right way to do this project. Just do it. There is no right time to do this project. Do it now. Try taking a moment everyday for a week and write down one thing you’re grateful for. Don’t pick a format. Just write it down wherever it feels convenient each day. Say at 10am. Wherever you are at 10am, pause for one minute, grab a pen and write it down on the first piece of paper you can find. Just try it.

Maybe one week is not enough to reap the benefits, I don’t know but I hope you’ll try. I hope it will be the push you need to let go of the daunting task of being perfect with this and just doing it for the joy of practicing gratitude.

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The following is cross-posted from the Weekly Gratitude Blog. I will post there every Tuesday and decided to post those posts here, too. For those of you who read both blogs, I apologize in advance. Some weeks the content might be different and other weeks, exactly the same.