Why Good Enough Is Great: Letting Go of Perfectionism

• The Root of Self-Sabotage: Self-sabotage often starts with the refusal to accept compliments and the belief that only perfect outcomes are valuable. Recognizing these behaviours is the first step toward breaking the cycle.
• Positivity as a Muscle: the more you practice it, the stronger it becomes. Even in challenging times, focusing on gratitude can help break the cycle of self-doubt.
• Perfection vs. Good Enough: Recognize when “done” is better than “perfect” and how letting go of perfectionism can free up time and energy. 
• Valuing Progress Over Perfection: Focus on completion rather than flawless outcomes can reduce stress and increase productivity.

“Your ability to believe in yourself is one of the biggest assets and one of the biggest contributors towards success.”

“Self-sabotage is really a choice.”

“Positivity is a muscle, and the more you flex that muscle, the bigger it gets, the more easier it is to use.”

“Perfect isn’t always better, better, and you can spend your time working towards that perfect. The reality is you’ll never do it.”

“Stop trying so hard. You have enough to offer being one big hot mess. That’s good enough.”

ANNE RAJOO

Maybe you’ve been there, too. Spending hours perfecting something only to realize that it wasn’t necessary. So why do we do this? It comes down to a belief that only perfection is acceptable and anything less is a failure. And this causes people to overwork, aiming for unrealistic standards that hinder our progress. In this episode, my guest Peggy Sullivan talks about self-sabotage. It’s something we often don’t recognize in ourselves, but Peggy will shine some light on how to recognize these behaviors as the first step to breaking the free from them. So get ready for some practical insights on how to embrace authenticity and stop trying so hard to be perfect because, as Peggy says it, you have enough to offer being one big, hot mess.

Welcome to the Peaceful Productivity Pod. I’m your host, Anne Rajoo and together redefine productivity and find your sweet spot where peek performance meets happiness. 

I remember my early days of my corporate career, I would emphasize I’m a perfectionist during a job interview, and I was convinced it was my strength. Over time, however, I learned it was more of a coping mechanism in response to fears and previous rejections. And at the time, my self-worth was tied to external validation, and I believed my value depended on my output and others’ opinions. This way of thinking caused me to keep sabotaging myself. I would constantly undermine my success, believing it was invalid until it matched or exceeded others’ expectations, and comparing myself to others created the sense that my achievements were inadequate, which diminished my self-worth even more. And made me feel really bad when I actually wanted to celebrate my successes, even if they were small. 

This cycle of self-doubt and comparison is not uncommon. It’s something that many of us face. And Peggy Sullivan, a renowned speaker and advocate for women’s empowerment, offers valuable insights into this struggle. She highlights how perfectionism and the fear of imperfection quietly fuel ourselves sabotage, keeping us from embracing and celebrating our accomplishments. So let’s hear it from Peggy.

PEGGY SULLIVAN

Your ability to believe in yourself is one of the biggest assets and one of the biggest contributors towards success. Self-sabotage is really a choice. 

You know, I always when I talk about self-sabotage, I love to throw out a compliment to somebody. I’ll say something nice to somebody, and I can tell right away if they brush off that compliment. They self-sabotage because they can’t sit there and say, Thank you, that was great. Or yeah, I do look good today. Or yeah, I just did something really hard. So if you can accept the compliment, that is a way that you can start to get over your self-sabotaging tendencies. 

Stop making self-sabotage a choice. You really have an opportunity, day in and day out. 

So let’s talk about ways to end that self-sabotage cycle. The first thing is to realize and recognize your behaviour. You know, if Anne took this quiz (this is a snippet from a longer conversation which included me taking a life quiz with Peggy). You know, I don’t think she walked into saying, I think I self-sabotage quite a bit, and I think most of us don’t realize that we do it. But when you think about the art and the science of getting in your own way, why in the world will we do that to ourselves? We set ourselves up for failure to start to recognize when you’re exhibiting these behaviours, just cut it right out. And I believe that positivity is a muscle and that the more you flex that muscle, the bigger it grows, the bigger it gets, the bigger it gets, the more easier is to use positivity. Really gets positivity, even if you’re going through a challenging time and you can’t find a lot to be positive about. There is always, always, always something to be grateful for, always something to be positive about. Try to focus on that. And then last but not least, let go of fear. 

Perfect isn’t always better, better, and you can spend your time working towards that perfect. The reality is you’ll never do it. I can remember the other day when I wanted to thank a friend, and I think some cookies, I put them in the oven a little bit too long, and so I went out to the store, got all new ingredients to make a new set of cookies. And the reality is just the gesture of giving those cookies. I didn’t need to waste another two hours of my day getting ingredients and making new cookies. So you started to think about, is what I’m doing adding value? Is this really going to help my end date? And if you can look at what you’re doing and know when to stop and say, this is enough, because there are many times perfect is not better, you know. And I think also, as women, there’s lots of ways that we can assist ourselves. We think we have to do it all, but I’m here to tell you, I’m on that I don’t get the cooking and cleaning to my husband. You know, I’m working full time. He’s retired to let him do that. Now, there are always ways to make more time to get really intelligent about it. 

ANNE RAJOO

Yeah, that’s so true. We don’t have to do it all, and it doesn’t have to be perfect. It’s just so hard wired, like you said in your presentation as well. It’s just practice. And again, sometimes expectation I don’t want to be perfect anymore, and then, like for me, it still keeps coming up. So it’s not like just because I decide I don’t want to follow protectionism, iIt’s just going to stop. It, you know, it will come back time and time again. 

PEGGY SULLIVAN

Here’s the reality. Life is one big practice session. And if there are things you want to get good at, you got to practice that. And sometimes, it really helps. Writing it down. I know there was a while there. I was such a perfectionist, and somebody said to me, write it down. Write all down how you spend your time and the things that you and the time you spent making things perfect, and then ask yourself, was that really, really, really worth it? Chances are you’re five out of dozen. So a lot of times, writing things down and evaluating every day, day in and day out for a week or so, to start to see stuff that and start to recognize it, and then when you start to do it again, you’ll be like, I don’t want to waste my time, because that’s the last thing in the world any woman wants to do, is waste her valuable time. 

All these roles like it’s messy, right? And we don’t want to embrace that messiness, right? We don’t want the world to see how messy it is. And I started realizing, oh my gosh, I spent an hour drying my hair, curling my hair, putting on makeup, doing all of this stuff, and there’s no value in that. And so a lot of times, you know, you can really start to take a step back and learn from things that other people other people the way other people are. I can remember one day after I had gotten up, showered, put my makeup on, curled my hair, did all of that stuff, and I went on a Zoom call, and there was this amazing woman who just had so many amazing things to say. And you know what? She was there in a sweatshirt, her hair was a mess, she had no makeup on. But you know what it was about, what she was communicating, and I think that is so important. It’s not about how we look, it’s not about our backgrounds, it’s not about our makeup. 

It’s life, it gets messy. You know, I love telling people I’m one hot mess, but a lot of times, it’s just our perception of ourselves. And if you can let go of that and just let yourself shine through, through and come as you are, life is so much easier and so much better. I mean, that’s the one piece of advice that I’ve learned is: Peggy Sullivan, stop trying so hard, you have enough to offer being one big hot mess. That’s enough. 

ANNE RAJOO

Peggy highlights the importance of valuing the journey or the gesture rather than the perfect execution and encourages us to embrace the messiness of life. I love her core message to stop trying so hard and accept ourselves as we are and even value our imperfections. It is high time to shift from self-sabotage to self-empowerment.

And so I want to encourage you to embrace good enough and lean into progress over perfection. Focus on completing a task to a satisfactory level rather than aiming for perfection all the time. Celebrate the progress with small wins and recognize that done often is better than perfect. This shift helps you to break free from the perfectionism trap, reduces your stress and increases productivity. 

I wrote a newsletter and spoke about Good Enough in business not so long ago, and I received a few mixed responses because this thought of goes deeply against anything we hear or see. We’re supposed to always want more. But a big part of PEaceful Productivity is to opt out of the never-ending pursuit of growth and more more more. And instead, focus on the deep alignment, joy and sustainability. 

“Enough” is such an empowering mindset and supports you in feeling deeply connected to your and the purpose of your work; it also helps you to set goals that are truly aligned and meaningful instead of chasing others’ versions of success. Which brings me back to my last episode, where I talk about mindful goal-setting. So if this is something that interests you, go back to Episode 11.

And since you’re still here, I know you sense this too. Yes, we want to earn money, and we want to build wealth, and we want to grow, but not by endlessly chasing more. So what’s more important is shaping your business to work for you and not the other way around. And that’s why I believe that finding your good enough number is an important part of creating your guiding North Star. And this number, for me, comes in two parts. 

First, the survival number: how much does your business need to make or achieve to cover your expenses, and maybe leave a little bit for some disposable spending, too. So that you can get by and you know you will be okay, even during quieter times, which, as an entrepreneur, we know, always come around at some point in time.

And the second number is the thriving number: This is the amount that your business makes to make you feel more abundant, build savings and to live with ease and to simply thrive. 

So having your enough numbers bring real peace to your business. It’s not about chasing more. It’s about building a business that supports you on your terms. 

So if you’re curious about starting productivity, download my free resource the Wheel of Peaceful Productivity, which is there to guide you create more life and work fulfillment. And it’s really a great starting point for anyone who’s interested in Peaceful Productivity. So go ahead and download this free PDF. It’s on my website and annerajoo.com or you find it in the show notes. 

And as always, please share the episode with anyone who could use a little bit more Peaceful Productivity in their lives. Leave a review or rating, and one lucky reviewer each month actually wins a complimentary 60-minute mentoring call with me. If you’re keen on discovering how we can shape your Peaceful Productivity, make sure you leave the review, take a screenshot and send it over to my email address hello@annerajoo.com

And don’t forget to come back next week. We continue this conversation about self-sabotage and self-doubt, fear of judgment and perfectionism. Because this really leads us to hesitate when it comes to taking effective decisions and it has negative impact on our productivity. I have Nicoline Huizinga, she helps entrepreneurs to stand out from the cloud. And we’ll be talking about harmful comparison or seeking feedback from the wrong people. So come back next week and learn how to overcome these fears and shift towards your boldness, until then, be peacefully productive and catch you next time.