Perfectionists - Do NOT read this!

In the wide range of perfectionist habits from people who have fallen off the "Good-for-Me Foods and Drinks Wagon", to the sportspersons who beat themselves up, even in practice, the reasons are inevitably the same - they are trying to match what they're doing to a model of perfection - and coming up short.
This model of perfection allows no faults, no deviations from the 'right' pathway - these are the all-or-nothing people, the 100%ers. And they judge, and they try, and they fail, and they try harder, and fail even more because they are trying harder!

There's a great quote by Bruce Lee:
"The less tension and effort, the more faster and powerful you will be"....and it starts with a deep calm breath, and a sense of being grounded.

The biggest cause of failures in dietary control is because the participants are not tolerant of their personal shortcomings. The biggest barrier to advances in sporting or performance expertise is that same intolerance, plus the 'try harder' syndrome. They, each of them, fail to acknowledge themselves as they are Right Now.

There's a well worn mantra "If you keep doing what you're doing, then you'll keep getting what you've got" - and this works well with those who are not bound in to the strategies of the 100%ers. But the bindings that hold those perfectionists to their excuses, their judgements, have been building over many years. They've learnt, over that span of time, to be as comfortable as possible with those bindings so they can get by, so that life goes on as best it can. "Its part of me - its who I am" is what they say about themselves, and what others say about them too.

It doesn't have to be this way - but the bindings are there to hold these attitudes in place - and the exit strategy is to release the bindings.

I feel that when people release THEIR OWN bindings then permanent change is made possible. This way they possess their own "change of mind" - instead of it being something imposed upon them from the outside. There are a number of ways of showing them their bindings, and part of what I do with them is to discover the nature of their bindings and what might be the most appropriate pathway for release.

These always start with questions, questions that eventually lead to questions and notions they can ask and explore for themselves. There's a really good set that I find opens things up, particularly for those 'stuck' on a plateau of progression...

"With whatever you're good at, how did you get to be as good as you are already? There was some point - back in your past - when you weren't as good as you are now. So in order for you to have become as good as you are, you must have allowed yourself to become better than you were."

Try this on the perfectionists you know (even the closet ones) and see what happens. Notice how they frame their answers - notice how their state shifts. See if any of that ice melts and becomes not ice!