Let It Go The Grace of Imperfection and Moving Forward
0Let It Go: The Grace of Imperfection and Moving Forward
Top o' the Mornin' to Ya!
TLDR: Perfectionist syndrome can paralyze us, but learning to "let it go" when mistakes happen - like a botched newsletter or sailing mishap - demonstrates the maturity to point ourselves in the right direction and trust that everything will eventually catch up and get into the right places.
This morning I got in my inbox and looked at the newsletter I sent out yesterday. I don't work on Sundays, or typically don't work on business stuff, so that was my first opportunity to see the newsletter that I scheduled to go out.
It wasn't what I expected.
What?
I don't know what happened. Somehow something got cut and pasted into the wrong places. I messed it up, didn't even say Happy Father's Day. I was like, "Did I not save it right? What happened?"
Whatever happened, it happened. And oftentimes I get all wrapped up in it - I get perfectionist syndrome. I'm like, "It's gotta be perfect. Why isn't it perfect?"
Yesterday I was training some guys sailing for fun. There were just three of us on the boat learning the ropes, learning how to jibe and tack, run the spinnaker and jib sail. There were a number of times there was a cluster going on.
Halfway through the training session, I told the guys, "So there are things that need to happen here. Sometimes they're just not gonna happen in time, and that's okay in general. We just try to point the boat in the right direction and get it lined up with the best direction we can aim. Eventually, all the things that didn't happen yet will catch up and they'll get into the right places and the boat speed will pick up."
Why?
I shared these stories because as I'm maturing in my humanity and maturing in my old age, I just realized that's the way it goes. The newsletter lacked all the links to our Daily BS posts and videos, though I did have the link to the Valiant Forge podcast that I was blessed to be a guest on and share the good news of Kingdom Family Leader.
Both situations - the newsletter mishap and the sailing training - taught me the same lesson about letting go of perfectionism and trusting the process and my core belief: I'm getting better every day.
Lesson
The lesson is simple: just let it go. Let it go. It's only a mistake. We talked about the miss plan a couple weeks ago, and this is just an opportunity for me to demonstrate it once again.
I'm human, and I believe in you as a husband, father, Christian, and leader. Sometimes we get so caught up in making everything perfect that we miss the bigger picture of moving forward and making progress.
Like sailing, life sometimes gets messy and things don't happen in the perfect timing we want. But if we point ourselves in the right direction and keep moving forward, everything eventually catches up and gets into the right places.
Apply
Where in your life are you stuck in perfectionist syndrome? What mistakes are you beating yourself up over instead of just letting them go and moving forward?
This week, practice the "let it go" principle. When something doesn't go perfectly - whether it's a work project, a conversation with your spouse, or a parenting moment - ask yourself: "Am I pointed in the right direction? Can I trust that things will eventually catch up and get into the right places?"
Remember my three core beliefs: I'm getting better every day, we are better together, and I believe in a God who knows better - way better than I know better.
Let go of the need for perfection and trust the process of growth and grace. In the doobly-doo below, write down something that's been bothering you that you just decided to let it go.
You be blessed!
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#LetItGo #PerfectionismRecovery #GraceInMistakes #MissStrategy #TrustTheProcess