cleaningAre you a person who needs things to be perfect?  Do you try to have a perfectly clean house, perfectly spotless car, perfect kids, perfect spouse, perfect hair style, perfect wardrobe?  Does absolutely everything of yours need to be perfect?

If so, you are not only putting a lot of pressure on yourself, you are putting pressure on everyone around you as well.  The quest for perfection is a nightmare!  It can lead to extreme stress and to procrastination.  Most people I know who have perfectionistic tendencies are big procrastinators.  They won’t do something until they have the perfect time, perfect amount of time, and perfect circumstances to do it, thus, it never gets done.  Then, they feel bad about not getting it done, become more stressed, and their self-esteem suffers.  They can’t go forward because they aren’t perfect enough.

If this describes you in any way, you need to realize that perfection is an implausible goal.  Given the speed at which our lives are being lived, it is impossible to do everything .. much less do it perfectly.

Give yourself a break! Get over your need for perfection!  Realize that excellence is good enough!