Celebrate Improvements - Dealing with Perfectionism
One of the things many of my students know about me is that I’m a perfectionist. Yes, I’m detail oriented with my students, but I’m hardest on MYSELF. I have a few students that are self-oriented perfectionists too and I’ve noticed that one of the things we have in common is that we sometimes ignore improvements in what we’re doing and focus instead on what we’re still lacking. This is the wrong approach….
I’ve put this in “Training the Brain” category because we have to get a handle on our minds to really excel at music. We can’t focus entirely on the negative. They say that we have to hear 10 positive things for each negative comment to maintain a healthy perspective. So, when we’re hard on ourselves, we can quickly ruin our own confidence by picking apart our each and every failing and not noticing where we succeed.
I try to remind myself and the other perfectionists that I know to celebrate progress. Every chance we get we have to remind ourselves that we’re moving the right direction. Great! I got that section of the song that’s been so hard for so long. Yes, it’s not perfect, but it’s BETTER. That’s what we need to focus on. If we aren’t careful we can really tear ourselves to shreds and prevent ourselves from achieving anything.
So, LOOK for things that you are doing well and take pride in them. Take note of your every improvement and remind yourself of how hard won that improvement was. Be proud of the progress you’ve made.
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