Quick Script Flip: When Perfectionism is Loud

[upbeat music] Close your eyes if you can or just soften your gaze and take a breath in, maybe the first breath you've taken all day.

[inhales] And let it go.

[exhales] We're doing a script flip today, and this one's for the woman whose perfectionism is loud right now, like ringing in your ears, can't turn it off loud.

The one who's rereading the email for the fifth time, the one who hasn't launched the thing because it's not ready, the one who can feel good about her business exactly zero days because there is one more thing to fix and one more thing to do.

Yes, this one is for you.

Here's the old script.

If it's not perfect, it's not good enough, and if it's not good enough, then I'm not good enough.

Perfectionism isn't actually about the work that you're doing or the amount of time you're spending on it to make it feel good enough.

It never is.

It's a defense mechanism, a faulty programming.

It's your nervous system going, "If I can control every detail, nothing can go wrong, and if nothing goes wrong, then I can't be criticized, and if I can't be criticized, then I am safe." Here's what I need you to actually feel in your body right now, not just hear, feel.

Perfectionism was never about excellence.

It was never about doing good work.

It's about control dressed up as high standards, and if you can control, then you can feel safe, and you can feel worthy, and you can feel accepted.

That is a story, and it's not yours.

Here's the flip.

Say this with me, even if it's in your head.

Done and honest beats perfect and hidden.

My worth was never on the line, and it never will be.

I am allowed to put things into the world before they are flawless because flawless doesn't exist, and waiting for it is just another way to abandon myself.

It is safe for me to not be perfect.

Say that one again.

It is safe for me to not be perfect.

It is safe.

And it is safe for me to make mistakes.