If you interview people about why they quit their goals, you’ll most likely get to hear something like:
“I fell behind and couldn’t get back on track.”
“Life got in the way, and my plans got derailed.”
“The project jumped the tracks and got too messy to fix.”
The words might be different, but they’re all saying the same thing:
“When it stopped being perfect, I stopped, too.”
You missed one day of your diet and then decided the whole thing was dumb.
You were too busy to write one morning, so you put your unfinished book back on the shelf.
You lost one receipt and then gave up on your entire budget for the month.
Sounds familiar?
This is the first lie that perfectionism tells you about goals: Quit if it isn’t perfect.
That’s why many of us won’t start a new goal. We’d rather get a zero than a fifty. We believe perfect is the only standard, and if we can’t hit it, why bother taking the first step, right?
But guess what? Your goal will not be perfect. You may even fail! Maybe more times than you like. Maybe even right from the beginning.
That’s OK.
If your goal is to lose 10 kg in three months, it’s okay if you only lose five. It’s not the end of the world. Give yourself another three months.
If your goal is to write four blog posts a month, it’s okay if you wrote two. No one is going to die. Try again next month.
If you’re on a keto diet and you accidentally ate single French fry, your cat will not be upset. Start again tomorrow.
It doesn’t have to be perfect. You just have to finish.
