Nearly two weeks ago I was in a training class talking about The Perpetual Wealth Code™ (PWC) and how we can help people to discover it for themselves. During the class, we talked about blogging and how Access Your Capital has been out there for a little while now (thank you, McFie’s!), and many more post topics came to mind. That was two weeks ago and it seems like yesterday. All we need now is to say, “where does the time go?” and the journey to becoming my father will be complete. I’m not the only one in this boat, am I?
The time has flown by, but writing has been sparse and posting has been non-existent. Now that I’ve talked about the blog with this group it has to be great, right?! Just reading that mock questions makes you realize that perfectionism continues to rear its ugly head, so we need to address it. Not because of the mental block thrown up in the posting schedule, but because this issue can impact us in many areas. Perfectionism may be driven by many things, but we’re going to focus on two – fear, and a misguided belief that we know what is going to happen in the future.
Fear is ever-present in our lives and perfectionism is just another destructive way to try to control it. The easy answer is to say, “get over it” and move on, but we’ve gotten to this point for a reason. One technique is to pretend you have done what you are trying to do and consider how you will feel in two weeks (or two months/years/whatever). This allows us to reframe things a bit and can be a great tool when you’ve delayed posting to a blog, asking someone out, proposing an idea at work, and so forth. In this case, two weeks from now there will be at least one more post so hopefully it will be spectacular (heh). Even if your action doesn’t go as well as planned, it’s not the end of the world.
Along with fear, we have the notion that somehow we know (or have a good idea) what will happen in the future. Do you ever catch yourself thinking this way? “I know my boss will say no if this presentation isn’t the best thing they’ve seen, so I’m going to wait another week”, or “I’m not going to suggest this idea because I know I need to have every answer before I do so”. Even if you haven’t had these particular thoughts, I have a feeling there have been times where action/decision has been delayed because you had already decided what was going to happen. Forgive me for stating the obvious, but the future is not set. When we continue to delay because everything needs to be just right, we give up control to those who know perfect can never be the enemy of the good.
While I’m happy to be back on track posting to this imperfect blog, it’s much more important for us to focus on our finances. There will never be a “perfect time” when it comes to financial decisions, though there may always seem to be a good reason to delay. There is also no reason to let fear limit the discussions you have, the questions you ask, or the sacred cows you need to tip. This blog is named Access Your Capital because a major benefit of the PWC is having real control over your financial life, and access to your cash is key to that control. While you may not consider yourself a perfectionist, conquering these feelings about finances can lead to much greater control.
Be sure to reach out or comment below if you have questions about The Perpetual Wealth Code™, or if you have thoughts on battling perfectionism. I look forward to hearing from you!