Are You A Perfectionist?
The Perfectionist Archetype is the main reason why many people fail to take the necessary action to get their Soul Mission in motion. The personalities that spawn from this archetype keep people stuck and prevent them from achieving their full potential.
A while back I was interviewing a client that was applying for my one on one coaching on How To Take Your Soul Mission Global. After studying her website I suggested a couple of things she could implement right away to engage more with her potential customers and build a better relationship with her audience.
One of the recommendations I gave her was to share more of her heroic journey. She had listed all her certifications and healing methodologies on her website but there was very little information about her personal healing journey and unique point of view on her topics of interest.
You see, people tend to focus too much on getting and listing their certifications but in reality what their potential clients really want to know is if that healing practitioner/life-coach/therapist can help them solve their problem.
In this case, she had healed an autoimmune dis-ease using alternative healing after many years of struggling with conventional approaches.
I told her that sharing her challenges and success with her autoimmune dis-ease is what really will create that connection with other people, especially those with autoimmune disorders. My suggestion was to include the details of her personal journey in her biography, articles and webinars.
She then proceeded to tell me that she had actually majored in English Literature and she received great praise for her writing when she was in college. But then something happened where she lost confidence in her writing so she gave up writting.
As she was telling me all this I could instantly sense the Perfectionist Archetype getting activated and how much this was sabotaging her progress.
I Shared My Story With Her
After hearing her story I proceeded to share my own struggles with the Perfectionist Archetype earlier in my career. The truth is that when I launched my first website 10 years ago I was only 24 years old. And although I speak English fluently, it is not my first language. Even though my English accent is far from perfect now, back then it was way thicker.
I had a lot of self doubt thinking that people would not take seriously an energy healer who was only 24 years old, had a foreign accent and constantly wrote typos in his articles and newsletters. To be honest I still make syntax and grammar mistakes because sometimes I continue to translate from Spanish to English in my head.
Perfectionism and Self-Doubt Didn’t Stop Me
Despite my doubts, the desire to fulfill my mission was so strong that I was relentless. I kept writing articles, sending newsletters and eventually I started giving LIVE online webinars to hundreds of people.
I remember my first webinar like it was yesterday, I was petrified and by the end I had a huge neck and back pain from how tense I was.
With time, the more webinars I gave the more confident I became. Then I started giving live workshops and my confidence grew even stronger. Of course I was doing energy clearings on myself to clear the source of the Perfectionist Archetype, self doubt and the fears I had. Having the tools and resources to tackle these blockages energetically helped me immensely.
Identifying The Perfectionist Archetype
Here is the definition of the Shadow Self Archetype the Absolute Perfectionist:
“Always striving for the “perfect” solution in order to never find one. Self-improvement junkies, health club fanatics, food fadders and workshop addicts. People who strongly identify with the Absolute Perfectionist Persona never feel ready to commit to accomplish anything much “because it isn’t quite right for me.” and they go from one thing to another constantly. They feel forever dissatisfied with something if not “everything.”
Addiction: self-centered independence and perfection
Goal: seeks a better life
Fear: depth/discovery
Issue: running from Self
Response: being true to the Inner Self
Virtue: autonomy and ambition
We all have to a certain degree identified with being a perfectionist, some people more than others. The big problem about being a perfectionist is that you NEVER get to feel that you or anything else is GOOD ENOUGH, because there is always something that can be fixed, healed or improved.
Even though this might be true to some degree, because we are always learning, growing and expanding, the perfectionist approach of “never good enough” creates an endless cycle of dissatisfaction. It’s very different to work on yourself from a state of self-love, acceptance and fulfillment than from a feeling of perpetual lack.
A very common example of the perfectionist can be seen in aspiring authors who have a phenomenal idea about a book but they constantly struggle to write the book or a single chapter for that matter because they are always thinking it’s “not good enough” or “perfect”, so they spend an entire lifetime trying to write a single book and most of them never do it.
A while back I worked with a client to clear the perfectionist persona and soon after she was able to find her own voice and style of writing, finish her book and got it published after years of trying.
Go For It!
Just like my client, most of my doubts and challenges were self created. Even the ones that were real were aggravated by my own unresolved and heavily charged fears. The whole point of this article is to encourage you to follow your dreams and be relentless about it.
Who cares what other people think.
You really don’t want to work with people who give too much importance to your “flaws”. There are many people out there who will deeply resonate with your message and will be touched by your intent. These are the people that really matter because you won’t be able to please everyone…your message is not for everyone.
If you are fueled by a passion to contribute and help other people then this is what will propel you to unprecedented success.
If you think you don’t have the knowledge, expertise or tools to help others then this belief is what is holding you back the most. When I work with people who truly want to help others but don’t know how to, I usually ask them a few key questions and in less than 20 minutes we can come up with a clear strategy for them to help other people using the knowledge and expertise they ALREADY have.
And one more thing, the perfectionist is terrified of making mistakes. If something in life is guaranteed is that you will make mistakes, tons of them. Yet mistakes are what will teach you what no one else can teach you about yourself.
Failure shows you what not to do and how you can change your approach. So be open to make mistakes, dare to fail and in that process you’ll discover that you are much more powerful and capable that you thought you were.