Are you a perfectionist?

Perfectionism is an emotive topic. If you don't believe me, go to http://www.motivateme.info/habit-perfectionist-or-lazy/ and click on the comments section. If you have ever put off doing something because you fear that it will not meet your own standards. Or for that matter, you fear that the item in question won't meet someone elses standards, Or you keep on editing and editing your work because you are just not happy enough with it to submit it for publication, then you may have a deep rooted fear of simply not being good enough.

What I would like to say at this point, is - compared to whom? Yes we should all strive to be better than we were yesterday - after all I labour the point long and hard enough. But not to the point that we never finish anything, or worse still don't begin anything. Sometimes, we have to take a deep breath and let go. Do you remember learning to swim? Do you remember thinking you were going to drown if you didn't hang onto the edge of the pool. And when you did let go, you quickly learned to either kick your legs and stay afloat or you sank, swallowed a stomach full of water before you remembered what the teacher had told you and kicked your legs.

But you should just remember that - you are unique, you have your own unique set of gifts and talents and you should work to those strengths. In doing so, you should be able to develop the skills you need to work on those things you consider to be weaknesses. But never forget - sometimes - near enough for you, can be more than good enough for everyone else. Yes we should always strive for better, but not get caught up on being perfect. No-one is perfect, and if someone tells you they are, then they've just proven that they're not because they have a huge ego they need to reign in.

But if you would like to know whether or not you suffer from perfectionism or not, then you might be interested in the following, which was sent by a reader of the Daily Dose to motivateme.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/surveys/perfectionism/

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