The blog topic of compassionate leadership came to my attention one month ago after hearing about recent corporate layoffs. However, I couldn’t stop myself from getting sidetracked by perfectionism. I decided to leave this topic for a future post due to a conference, vacation, and visiting guests during the month. It’s a new month, and I am ready to face the challenge of being good enough.
Originally intended to highlight the need for compassion in dealing with all stakeholders after reading about knee-jerk layoffs that negatively impacted company operations, the blog evolved into a lesson in compassion for myself. I want these blogs to be a learning process for me and hopefully for my readers, so why do I expect them to be the final version of an academic paper?
With the help of coaching friends, two lessons became clear*:
- I needed a reminder that my blogs are 5-minute topics to explore an underlying emotion or perspective that may trigger a behavior.
- When I say YES to one activity, I am saying NO to another.
“Letting go” is difficult for perfectionists. Thankfully, I am self-aware enough to accept and admit when I’ve gone too far (sometimes with help from other coaches). Perfectionism is taking “striving for excellence” too far. Skills that are overused or abused can hinder our lives when we misuse them. One way to combat this is:
- Name the misused skill first.
- Next, decide how to respond to it.
During your day today, are you feeling discomfort about your approach to daily tasks? Can you name the discomfort?
Copyright © 2023 Devashri Gupta. All rights reserved.
*Therapists see therapists just as coaches get coaching
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