Perfectionism Closes the Mind
by Marc on June 9, 2009
in Daily Meditation, Quotes
The idea of perfect closes your mind to new standards.. When you drive hard toward one ideal, you miss opportunities and paths, not to mention hurting your confidence. Believe in your potential and then go out and explore it; don’t limit it.
- John Eliot
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Love it! I’m a Virgo – don’t know if you’ve ever studied astrology in depth – but we’re prone to being critical and perfectionists. It’s something I’ve struggled with all my life. The first step towards me getting over it was when I had a tumour removed. Being told everything was OK made waking up and breathing feel pretty perfect after that.
Having kids taught me a different kind of perfect, too.
The section of our coaching exam that most people failed was a proficiency called [the coach] “navigates via curiosity”. I loved that concept and have tried to absorb it into my life.
I have to admit, astrology is not something I’ve ever really “bought” into, probably because I’m old enough to remember Mystic Meg.
Being a Virgo then must have helped with your Life Coaching?
Speaking of which what is “navigates via curiosity”?
The only advantage in coaching is that like many Virgos, I’m a detail lover, a spotter of patterns and an analyst. We also have a deep need to serve but that’s not always a good thing. Coaches encourage people to design their own supportive environments; we make ourselves redundant as soon as possible. I personally turned my own self criticism into a tool to clean up my own stuff and then I harnessed it to enable me to empathise deeply with folk who are their own worst enemies, for example, writers who have cruel internal critics, people whose self limiting beliefs hold them back.
Coaches are enablers; we champion people, reveal and elicit their greatness, build on and expand achievements as well as their awareness. I’ll often toss out ideas for consideration or enter new territories along with a person, but giving advice is a dodgy area in coaching. We never criticise or judge in coaching sessions. Provocative questions can make people feel they’re out of their comfort zones, but they’re asked with permission.
What I do in my blogging is informed by my coaching experience but is nothing like live coaching. I’d love you to get a free coaching session with one of my colleagues sometime to see what it’s really like. My favourite coaches are the ones who don’t pride themselves on their ‘edginess’ but ask great questions, nevertheless.
Would you like a guest post about navigating via curiosity? It’s a BIGGIE!
janice’s last blog post..Skin Deep