It’s easy to get caught up in the concept of perfection. I find this to be especially true with the concept of I will be happy when “insert ideal level of perfection here” is achieved (the if this, then that mentality) or waiting to begin something until the perfect time. Is waiting for perfection holding you back from achieving your goals or desires?

Seeking out perfection, especially as it relates to workout performance or body image, can easily become the focal point during our workouts, health, and wellness. Except what happens when our workout doesn’t go “perfectly”? After all things rarely go as we planned, what do we do when we have a setback, life obstacle, or an injury that occurs and our perfect plan starts to unravel. Do you find yourself frustrated, giving up, and throwing in the towel? Could this idea of perfection be causing you more harm than good?

Instead of waiting or wishing for perfection, what if we were able to recognize that our situation might be far from perfect but we are willing to meet our current situation with compassion, empathy, patience, and room for growth. Acknowledging that we are worthy of our ambitions regardless of a lack of perfect conditions. It’s common to tell yourself “I’ll start when I have more time”, or “I’ll be happier when I lose 10lbs”, or “I need be in better shape to be deserving of this”. I challenge you to recognize that you may have the opposite of perfect conditions or want to change something about yourself but understand that under less than perfect conditions you can still be willing to show up for yourself.

Having compassion, understanding, and patience for ourselves can be much harder to practice than seeking out perfection. It’s hard to accept our weaknesses, setbacks, and obstacles and learn to recognize that we can use these obstacles to continue to show up for ourselves even in times of difficultly. If one of your obstacles if starting something new under less than perfect conditions, maybe your a new mom, have a demanding job, a recent injury, etc. Can you challenge yourself to reframe your mindset and think about how much you can learn along the way and how much stronger you will become as a result. If your waiting to be happy until a perfect goal is met, can you think of things that will bring your joy in the present moment? What can you do to show yourself that you are deserving? If you judge yourself based upon how perfectly your workout went, can you try to think of things that went well even if you didn’t hit your target that goals that day. Remember that you showed up to do your workout and regardless of your performance that day, that in itself is a big win! We are not going to hit PR’s (personal records) during every single workout, showing up on the less than perfect days, being mindful, and consistent is what will get us to our goals.

I believe that if we stop chasing perfection (the perfect time, the perfect workout, the perfect body) and instead choose to take actions that show ourselves compassion, understanding, patience, and worthiness along the journey to our goal, we can have far greater success.