This post is a part of our New Year’s Book Club! If you haven’t already, check out our introduction post to learn more about book club and download our free resources! You can purchase the book here. “At the core, perfectionism is a desperate attempt to live up to impossible standards.” – Jon Acuff In this week’s readings, Jon equips us with some practical ways to take perfectionism out of our progress. I think Chapter 6 was one of the most powerful chapters we’ve read yet! If you’re a little behind on your readings, or are just now joining us, I suggest reading it this week no matter what.
Somewhere along the way, we convinced ourselves that joy doesn’t matter when it comes to accomplishment, productivity, and success. It makes achieving them much harder than it needs to be. Whether, like Jon, you adopted the mentality that “success is bad,” or you’ve convinced yourself that you can never achieve your dream. It’s time to shake those “secret rules” or limiting beliefs off and start living a joy-filled, reality-based life! And speaking of reality, Chapter 7 is all about reading the data. Tracking real progress, regardless of how little it may seem, is the key to staying encouraged and finishing strong. Perfectionism may tell you you’re failing, but the data doesn’t lie!
Tracking real progress, regardless of how little it may seem, is the key to staying encouraged and finishing strong. Perfectionism may tell you you’re failing, but the data doesn’t lie! Click To Tweet
WEEK FOUR TAKEAWAYS:
1. Perfectionism is tricking us into making life harder.
Perfectionism will tell us that our joy doesn’t matter. It’ll tell us to try meeting our goals in the most difficult ways possible, to the point where we’ll never achieve them. And, it will convince us that we have to do it all alone. “We become adult toddlers when we refuse help from people and believe the lie that seeking assistance is a sign of weakness.” (pg. 113) Don’t believe these lies today.
2. Adjusting is not the same as giving up.
“When things aren’t going well, it’s not time to give up. It’s time to get your bearings and make adjustments.” (pg. 128) If we don’t see the results we want right away, or if we aren’t feeling the way we think we should, it’s easy to want to give up. But sometimes we simply need to figure out if there’s a better way to do it. “If you don’t review the progress, you can’t make adjustments. You can’t learn from mistakes. You can’t get better, and ultimately, you can’t finish.” (pg. 128) If things aren’t going the way you want them to, don’t let quitting be your first resort. See if there’s a better way to meet the same goal.
If things aren’t going the way you want them to, don’t let quitting be your first resort. See if there’s a better way to meet the same goal. Click To Tweet
3. Giving up is okay in the right circumstances.
Not all quitting is losing. Part of reevaluating the process is determining whether or not a particular goal is helpful or detrimental to your life. Quitting shouldn’t be your first response, but it might be what’s healthiest for you in the long run. If that’s what you need to do, don’t let the fear of being a “quitter” keep you from pursuing the goals that are best for you!
WEEK 4 LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE: Identify, question, and destroy your limiting beliefs.
Go through the exercise listed out on pg. 120, following the explanations layed out in Chapter 6. Write your game plan down on the back of your Challenge Worksheet for Week 4, and keep track of your progress throughout the week. If you haven’t downloaded our Challenge Worksheet, you can grab it for free here.
What did you learn this week? Be sure to share your progress with us by using the hashtag #ILIreads and #ILIFinish!
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