Sis, Stop Holding Yourself Back! 5 ways being a perfectionist is ruining your productivity
Article By Tami Bennett // EEW Magazine // Empowerment
Show me a perfectionist and I’ll show you somebody who is gripped by fear of failure, feelings of inadequacy, and a much too low opinion of themselves.
Take it from a former perfectionist, if you are secretly (or not so secretly) a perfectionist, it’s important to tackle this issue head on and face it for what it is: fear. Otherwise, you will ruin your productivity and your chances of doing the awesome things God has chosen you to accomplish.
Here are 5 ways that being a perfectionist ruins your productivity.
#1 You hide good things. Instead of exposing your gifts, creativity and skills to the world, you conceal those things because you have convinced yourself that what you have to offer isn’t good enough. By doing this, you waste time and talent picking apart something that is worthy of recognition and praise. Your gifts can bring God glory, so what are you waiting for?
#2 You delay your progress. Perfectionists take a long time to do things that could be achieved in a much shorter period of time. Instead of advancing at a quicker pace, they constantly pump the brakes on progress because they convince themselves that they aren’t ready yet. Perfectionists stay in the shadows and procrastinate in the name of “waiting for the right time.” But for a perfectionist, there never is a right time, and their season passes them by.
#3 You talk yourself out of opportunities. When you constantly second-guess your abilities and worthiness, you miss out on valuable opportunities. Instead of walking through doors, maximizing personal relationships, and boldly moving forward in the things God has called you to, you talk yourself out of stuff and get in your own way. You tell yourself, if I try, I will fail. As a result, your negative thought becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. You inevitably do fail because you won’t try.
#4 You feel disappointed in yourself. Perfectionists are often smart and overly capable of doing what they want to do. But their procrastination and self-deprecating thoughts and harsh self-talk keep them in a state of disappointment. They inwardly feel like failures and wallow in discouragement and depression because they have confined themselves to their own prison of fear, self-doubt, anxiety, and worry when it doesn’t have to be that way.
#5 You are constantly unfulfilled. When humans don’t have a purpose, we feel a sense of void and longing. A perfectionist creates a vicious cycle of unhappiness in their life because they fail to fulfill their purpose. By not doing what God has equipped, anointed and chosen them to do, they feel unfulfilled and down in the dumps. As Proverbs 13:12 says, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.”
If you struggle with perfectionism, it is also a veiled form of pride. You want to be viewed a certain way and refuse to accept any less than the false standard you have created. Until you humble yourself and realize that God is the only one who gives us value—not our own skills, abilities, and possessions—you will remain hindered, unhappy, and unable to fulfill your life’s calling.
Today, make a choice to ditch perfectionism, embrace what God has given you, expose it to the world, and trust God to do with it whatever He wants to do.
What you have is all you need.
