"Perfectionism is just fear... in really good shoes."

"Perfectionism is just fear...in really good shoes." as the wise Elizabeth Gilbert said in her interview with Oprah not too long ago. 

As I work on editing my book today, I'm realizing this: while I so urgently want to put excellent work out there, if the work is held back because "it's not perfect yet," or "it's not good enough yet," then that's just resistance disguised as 'perfectionism.' It's time to let go of this attachment to my book(s) as being a representative of me--it's not me. It's just a vehicle for ideas.

And if I'm holding back something that could potentially help someone, solely to assuage my ego--and not let it go until it's 'perfect' (which will be *ahem* never)--than that's the real enemy here. Instead I'm working on getting 'self' out of the way, and letting the work get done.

Today's assignment, really then, isn't to edit. It's to 'un-self.' [Click the image for her clip on perfectionism.]