The BIGG Successs Show
Practice Not Being Perfect
Today we'll help one of our listeners who is tired of stressing out over finding the perfect holiday gifts. We'll discuss how to overcome perfectionism. Listen to the show and read the summary here.
Welcome to our 11th Big Success Show. Today we'll practice not being perfect. The Big Success Show with George and Mary Lynn. We want to remind you that we challenged you to visualize your dream life. More specifically to ask yourself the question. If neither time nor money were an issue, how would you spend your time and your money? I like that question. And we've got a link to that visualization exercise on our blog today at Big Success. That's Big with 2G's Success.com. We'll be coming back to that topic in a couple of weeks. Today we're going to help out one of our listeners. Julie sent us an email, George, and here's her problem. Julie's a mom of two young children and this time of year the holiday shopping season is in full swing and she feels full blown stress. She probably was out on Black Friday. I bet you at like four o'clock. Oh, yeah. Well, she puts this pressure on herself to find perfect gifts for everyone on her shopping list. The kids, her husband, her family members, her friends, and the problem she's having is that she feels frustrated. She feels like she can't get everything done. She's tired. She's wore out. She busts her budget. And then after it's all said and done, she still doesn't feel like she's enjoying the season at all. Well, and the issue here is what we want to talk about today. Perfection ism. That's right. She wants our suggestions on how she can lighten the pressure on herself and maybe actually be able to enjoy this holiday season. Well, and obviously this is a time of year where I think we all feel perhaps more pressure on our time, more demands than any other, but our question goes to something that I think we struggle with year round, really. And so the first thing we want to do is we want to tell Julie, Julie, focus on being a hero, not a superhero. Take off the cape. That's right. Exactly. What we're really saying here is lower the bar, expect less of yourself, and more specifically, let yourself be human. Just expect what a human can do. And so we're going to give you permission, Julie, to be human. Yes, we're going to give you permission to buy gift certificates. They really do work. Another thing to do, Julie, is ask yourself, why is it so important to buy the perfect gift for everyone on my list? What is the underlying desire to buy that perfect gift? Now, for most people in this situation, it tends to be for approval. You want to impress your friends and show them that you can get the perfect gift. You want your kids to be impressed. Oh my God, my mom is the best. But those are superficial reasons. The reason that you're giving gifts and the reason you're shopping for people is because you love them. You want to show them that you've thought of them. So focus on your goal, which is simply showing you loved ones that you care, and don't focus on trying to win approval. That's a good point. We all fall into that from time to time. For a final point, we got a little story to tell. Recently heard this story about a professor who taught accountants or prepared people for the CPA test. And as I understand it, in order to pass the CPA test, you have to pass four sections with a score of 75 or more. This professor put one of his former students up in front of his class and he said, this is my model student. Guess what score this model student had gotten on a CPA test? 100s, 99s, 98s. That's what you would think, isn't it? Well, he got a 75, 75, 75, 75. Really? So why would the professor say this is my model student? Isn't that a good point? The reason is because the professor pointed out that this person still has the letter CPA behind his name, just like the person who got 100 on all four sections. But, unlike people who scored better, this guy had time to do other things. So he not only benefited by passing the test, but he also was able to spend time doing other things that he'd rather do. So Julie spent 25% less time finding those perfect gifts for everyone on your list, and instead use that time to actually enjoy the holiday season this year. So we're saying, if you're less demanding on yourself, you'll find life more rewarding. That's right. And Julie, we hope we've helped you out. Thank you so much for emailing us. And we just want to remind you, if you've got a challenge you'd like us to help you out with email us, biginfo@bigsuccess.com. Big success with 2Gs. Yes, that too. And we've got a written summary of today's show on our site at bigsuccess.com as well. Before we go, we've got to get our big quote in for the day. And the quote today comes from Arthur in No one. No, really. I love that guy. He quotes a lot of things. He's got a lot of quotes I've got to say. But the quote is a good one. No one is perfect. That's why pencils have erasers. Striving for excellence puts lead in your pencil. Striving for perfection takes it out. Next time, we'll challenge you to stretch yourself. Now why on earth will we do that when today we're talking about how to quit being a perfectionist so that you can save some time? Because now that you save time, you can stretch yourself. In the directions you want, correct? Okay. Until then, here's to your big success. The Big Success Show at B-I-G-G Success.com. [MUSIC PLAYING]