Seizing It

You can begin “Seizing It” by being persistent.

Do you sometimes get stuck because you can’t do something perfectly, and in your mind perfection is the only goal?  Are you afraid to take risks because you can’t contemplate the prospect of potentially failing?  Do you know people who are so worried about being perfect that they become afraid to try new things?  Well, I used to fall into all of those categories.  In a world focused on perfection, I was the poster child!

Today, I actually loudly proclaim myself to be a “recovering” perfectionist.  And believe it or not, I have become my most successful AFTER giving up perfectionism.  Does that seem to you to be a contradiction?  The secret is that I have replaced Perfectionism, and it’s sometimes associated “paralysis of analysis”, with Persistence, and the sometimes baby steps of persistent action.

Motivational speaker Zig Ziglar has stated, “Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly . . .  until you learn how to do it well”.  WOW.  I did NOT like this statement the first time my husband said it to me many years ago.  He edited the statement to say, “Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly, until you get the hang of it”.  This was so completely outside my paradigm.  What, do substandard work?  Be slopppy?  Appear less than competent?  I can’t do THAT! 

But now, this is a very freeing thought!  What a gift, to be able to try new things and see where they go!  To be able to explore a potential talent, and live in the question of whether or not it is something I want to pursue;  to actually embrace failure as an opportunity to grow!  Well, I won’t go so far as to say that I’ve fully “embraced” failure, but I am much more willing to try new things!

Persistence is my new  “P’ word that replaces Perfection.  Persistence allows me to take one small step at a time, and over time, those steps add up to real progress.  Persistence allows me to realize, in the words of David Nour, that “version one is better than version none”.   As I move forward with my first attempt (version 1), and assess results, I can make adjustments along the way (version 2; not necessarily perfection).  I hold the vision of where I want to go, with faith and purpose, and persistently move in that direction.  And results truly follow!  With perfection, I was often frozen in fear and indecision, and thought I had to cover the entire distance with one leap.  With persistent action, one step at a time, I begin to create the things I want in my life, personally and professionally.  Remember to practice Persistence,  and you, too, will begin “Seizing It”!

Copyright © 2009  Pamela Geer, SeizingIt.com – All Rights Reserved

Filed under: Leaders with "It" are . . . | Tagged: Executive Presence, Leadership Presence, Leadership Skills, Pamela Geer, Persistence |