4 Reasons To Stop Trying To Be Perfect

Are any of these on your to do list?

Have flawless skin
Get your ideal body
Be the perfect parent/ friend/ partner
Keep your home tidy every day
Eat healthily all the time
Be the ideal employee/ student
Tick off your next life goal (and do it perfectly)
Look fabulous all the time

Do any of these sound familiar? If so, you need to read this.

Trying to be perfect isn’t just exhausting but it can also be detrimental to your self-confidence.

Whatever it is you’re trying to get just right, here are 4 reasons why you should stop:

1. It doesn’t work

Here’s a bombshell: Perfection doesn’t exist. As much as it might appear so on social media or from the outside, no one has the perfect house, body or complexion.

Trying to be flawless can be a never-ending battle, where we never seem to quite reach the end. And do you know why? Because it doesn’t exist! For anyone, in the real world.

2. You can set yourself up to fail

If you are always striving for something that isn’t achievable like perfection, you’re going to feel like you’ve failed. Having goals is great, but be careful not to get carried away with setting unrealistic targets or putting pressure on yourself if you don’t achieve everything.

3. Humans by nature aren’t perfect

Having a perfectly toned body or skin with no wrinkles isn’t natural. We might have created these standards in society but they aren’t realistic. Living a healthy lifestyle and looking after your skin is great, but don’t beat yourself up for not being perfect, because no one is! We all have those days when we forget to take our make-up off or we skip the gym and order a takeaway instead. And that’s ok!

4. People love imperfections

Can you think of any loveable character from your favourite film/ book who wasn’t flawed in some way? People are drawn to those who don’t have everything figured out. We are drawn to people who make mistakes, don’t always have everything together and don’t look ‘perfect’ – our flaws are what make us who we are, give us character, excitement, and stories to tell.

How is setting goals different from trying to be perfect?

Giving up trying to be perfect doesn’t mean you can’t set yourself goals and feel good about achieving them.

Here are a few pointers to help you set goals without falling into the ‘perfection trap’ :

Set realistic goals – For example, if exercising more and eating more fruit and vegetables will help boost your confidence, that’s a great goal. But, saying that you must go to the gym every day and restrict your diet so that you can look like the image of the perfect body in your head isn’t a good idea, and isn’t sustainable.

Celebrate the small wins – For example, if you set yourself the goal of keeping the house tidy every day, but you let it slip for a few days. Don’t get upset that you didn’t stick to it – celebrate the fact that you did keep it tidy and just keep going, remembering that no one is perfect.

Question whether your goal is right for you –Sometimes there are things in life you know you want to achieve, in which case go for it! But it’s always a good idea to just stop and ask yourself ‘Why do I want to do this? Is this realistic?’