In this episode we are going to be talking about your perfectionism handbrake – what it is, how to release it and feel safe doing so. This is going to be what helps you to get out of your own way in your business so you’re showing up fully, serving your customers and clients, making more money and enjoying the day to day of being in business.
This is one of the best episodes of the podcast. The first clip you’ll hear is from an episode recorded in March 2022 and the second clip was recorded in May 2021.
I’ll tell you the three reasons why I call it your perfectionism handbrake. This emerged as a response to the mentality that society has around perfectionism – that it’s a personality flaw or that it’s because we don’t intellectually understand that done is better than perfect.
When your perfectionist mindset is working against you, building your business is like driving a car with a handbrake on. In today’s episode I also tell you the 10 subtle signs that your perfectionism handbrake is on.
And the ONLY reason that you’re not getting shit done in your business is because no one has ever taught you how to release your perfectionism handbrake quickly and easily.
So much of the work that I do with perfectionists is to help you understand what it is so that you’re able to get your perfectionist mindset on your side and get yourself in a growth mindset.
That’s why this episode is all about your perfectionism handbrake, the 10 not-so-obvious signs your perfectionism handbrake is on and how to release it. Once you learn how to release your perfectionism handbrake, you’ll be able to build your business at full speed without burning out.
Find the full episode transcript and show notes at samlaurabrown.com/episode445.
In This Episode You’ll Learn:
- How to tell whether your perfectionism handbrake on
- Why everyone has a perfectionism handbrake
- Where your perfectionism has ‘come from’
- Why having language around your perfectionism will help you find solutions
- The 10 not-so-obvious signs your perfectionism handbrake is on
- Why you can’t stick to your plans for more than a few weeks
- The truth about why you aren’t succeeding as quickly as others
Featured In The Episode:
- Free training: How To Plan Properly As A Perfectionist with Power Planning
- Join the waitlist for Perfectionists Getting Shit Done (PGSD) – samlaurabrown.com/pgsd
- Take the perfectionism quiz: samlaurabrown.com/quiz
- Sign up for daily Perfectionist Power-Ups – samlaurabrown.com/power
- Follow me on Instagram @perfectionismproject
Free Training: How To Plan Properly As A Perfectionist With Power Planning
If you want to get shit done without burning out, I invite you to watch the free training I’ve created on how to plan properly as a perfectionist with Power Planning. By the end of the series, you’ll be ready to start using Power Planning today to get your perfectionist mindset on your side so you can get out of your own way. Go to samlaurabrown.com/plan to watch the training today.
Take The Perfectionism Quiz To Get Your Personalised Perfectionism Score
If you’re not sure whether perfectionism is what’s making you get in your own way, I invite you to take The Perfectionism Quiz.
After working with over 1,000 perfectionist entrepreneurs, I created this free quiz so you can get your personalised perfectionism score and discover which of the 5 areas of perfectionism you would most benefit from working on overcoming the most: whether it’s overthinking, procrastination, burnout, all-or-nothing thinking or fear of judgement.
It takes less than 3 minutes to get your unique result and be one step closer to getting shit done without burning out. If you love learning about yourself and you’re ready to get out of your own way, go to samlaurabrown.com/quiz to take the quiz today.
Work With Me:
My coaching program Perfectionists Getting Shit Done (aka PGSD) teaches you how to plan properly as a perfectionist so you can get out of your own way in your business. To find out more about the program and be the first to know when the doors open, join the waitlist today: samlaurabrown.com/pgsd.
Listen To The Episode
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FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Introduction
Hi and welcome to another episode of The Perfectionism Project, a podcast full of perfectionism advice for entrepreneurs. My name is Sam Laura Brown, I help entrepreneurs release their perfectionism handbrake so they can get out of their own way and build a fulfilling and profitable business. I’m the founder of the Perfectionist Getting Shit Done group coaching program, which is otherwise known as PGSD. And for even more perfectionism advice to help you with your business. You can follow me on Instagram @perfectionismproject
Renae (Intro)
Hello, it’s Renae here. I wanted to put this episode together so that you have a resource to really understand what the term perfectionism handbrake is. In this episode, you’re gonna hear Sam explain it. At first, the three reasons why she developed the term perfectionism handbrake and why it’s so important that you start to adopt and what you need to know about perfectionism handbrake so that it helps you in your life. And then secondly, I have a sneaky of an extra bit that I’ve added at the end which are the 10 not so subtle signs that your perfectionism handbrake is on. So, enjoy. This is an important one.
Sam Laura Brown
In this episode, we are going to be talking about your perfectionism handbrake. Understanding what your perfectionism HandBrake is, how to release it, how to feel safe, driving with it off is going to be what helps you to get out of your own way in your business. So you are showing up fully. So you are serving your customers or clients. So that you are making more money. So that you are enjoying the process, the day to day of being in business.
So for about a year now I’ve really been talking about perfectionism as a handbrake. And this really emerge from a lot of the dialogue around perfectionism. Being that perfectionism is bad. Naughty, naughty, you shouldn’t be a perfectionist. We all know done is better than perfect. Like, that’s the kind of mentality that there mainly is out there about perfectionism. It’s either that, or oh yeah, my biggest weakness is that I’m a perfectionist. It’s that kind of mentality that perfectionism is either when we are being detail oriented, and neat and organized and doing everything perfectly, which isn’t what perfectionism is, or that it’s because we don’t intellectually understand that perfection isn’t a thing, or that Done is better than perfect. And so much of the work that I do with perfectionism is really to help you understand what it actually is, so that you are able to get your perfectionist mindset on your side and get yourself into a growth mindset.
When we are in a growth mindset, this is a concept created by Dr. Carol Dweck, she talks about in her book, Mindset. When we are in a growth mindset, we are courageous, we try. We are really living in alignment with that saying that it’s better to have tried and failed than to have never tried at all. Instead of living from the place of it’s better to not try than it is to fail. But so much of the dialogue around perfectionism really has us deeming… Assa Deema… What am I saying? Demonizing ourselves more than we already are. Beating ourselves up, feeling ashamed and exacerbating what is going on? We’re already feeling inadequate. And we’re talking about perfectionism as a society in a way that makes us feel even more inadequate, and only makes our perfectionism handbrake come on even stronger, and only makes us feeling less safe, not being in that perfectionist mindset.
So I really started thinking about how we can be thinking about perfectionism, so we can identify that, that mindset is something that we can use to our advantage. While we are in the process of getting into a growth mindset. There’s nothing wrong with being a perfectionist, that it’s not coming from this lack of intellectual understanding around how the world works, and that perfection isn’t really a thing. And that it’s not this cute little personality flaw that you can talk about in a job interview. It’s not a personality flaw. It’s just a set of behaviors that we engage with. And often it’s more about what we’re not doing than what we are doing. But it’s just a way that we’re protecting ourselves from feeling shame.
And I love sharing the Brene Brown quote. The perfectionism comes from the belief that if we just look perfect and do everything perfectly, then we can avoid shame, judgment and blame. That that’s really all that perfectionism is, and a lot of times, it’s really about avoiding looking imperfect, more than it is about doing everything perfectly. So while a lot of us think that perfection is the perfect people, that the people who actually do everything, right. And so I can’t be a perfectionist because I procrastinate, and I make plans and I don’t follow through with them and I have these big ideas and I don’t execute on them, that really recognizing that perfectionism for the most part manifests as ways of withholding effort. And that the more we can understand perfectionism and our perfectionism, handbrake, and how to feel safe leaving that handbrake off, the more we’re able to get out of our own way, and that there’s nothing wrong with us.
And this is especially important to be thinking about when you have a business, because business has a way of turning our perfectionism handbrake on in ways that it might not have been on before. So for example, with my own story that I’ve shared on the podcast, that I was in a perfectionist mindset, very much so around anything intellectual, so especially around school, when I was in university doing my law and finance degrees. But it worked in the sense that I was getting good results. And as students were told that, that is the sign it’s working, that you’re getting the A, and we’re not really taught to look at the process that goes into that, and that I was doing all nighters and burning myself out.
It still felt like it was working, and that I was getting the validation and the approval that I was wanting. So this is also part of it that it really feels like especially after decades of doing this, that you’re successful because of your perfectionist tendencies, not in spite of them. And when we can really start to see that there’s nothing wrong with being a perfectionist. But when we’re driving around with our handbrake on, we’re only just getting a glimpse at what we’re capable of. And that once we can release that handbrake, we can achieve so much more and enjoy the process so much work.
It’s so much fun to drive a car when you’re not driving with the brake on. But we really start to associate success with the handbrake being on. And that’s why it starts to feel unsafe not to be engaging in these perfectionist behaviors. I talk about the five signs of perfectionism. And most of those are different forms of withholding effort. So overwhelm, procrastination, burnout, all or nothing mindset, fear of judgment. I won’t go into it in this episode. I will link in the show notes and episode where I go into each of them individually, if you’re wanting to know like, why is burnout a sign of perfectionism? I go into all of that in an episode I did on each of them. And I talk about them all throughout this podcast.
But really understanding that there’s nothing wrong with you. Again, I’m gonna say that more times in this episode, there is nothing wrong with you. And I know it can be so frustrating when you have been in your own way like you know, you’re capable of more. And you see all these other businesses and they are achieving things that you know you can achieve to and you know, you’re smart and you know you’re capable and you know, you have potential. You also have the doubt and the imposter syndrome and all that going on too. But you know, you’re capable of more and yet you can’t get yourself to do it. And maybe you think like I used to do that this was just a problem with motivation.
You might be googling things like how to stay motivated. You might be doing things like buying new planners to try and keep yourself motivated or signing up for another marketing program to keep yourself feeling motivated. When really it’s just the perfectionism handbrake and inside PGSD, the process that we go through to release your handbrake is to plan properly as a perfectionist, follow through with your plans 80% of the time, rest without guilt and repeat. That’s the PGSD process. That’s going to get you to stop procrastinating and dramatically reduce your desire to procrastinate.
Zero procrastination is not the goal. That’s when we focus on following through with our plans 80% of the time, but it’s going to help you sort that out. You won’t be burning out. You won’t be in this constant state of people pleasing your friends and family and kind of diminishing your goals around them and not really talking about your business. You won’t be people pleasing your clients and your customers and trying to keep everyone happy at the cost of the growth of your ideas, your products, your services, yourself. When you are doing this work to release your perfectionism handbrake. As I said, business gets more fun, you make more money, you help more people, you get more rest you actually know what you like doing in your spare time. And even though you love being productive, you do have a life beyond your business.
So I want to talk about three of the reasons why I call it the perfectionism handbrake. I have already kind of shared a few of them. And that really the way that we, as a society talk about perfectionism is making us wrong for being in this mindset, which only makes it harder to grow out of this mindset. And I don’t really talk about perfectionism in the sense of managing your perfectionism, healing your perfectionism. Overcoming perfectionism. I haven’t really ever talked about managing it so much, but there’s different language that gets used around it. And I really think the most helpful way to be thinking about it is that you’re just driving this car, you’ve got the handbrake on, you haven’t really realized it, or maybe you have, but it hasn’t felt safe to release that handbrake. And all you need to learn to do is release the handbrake, feel safe, keeping it off, and driving a little faster, that might feel a little uncomfortable when you’re used to going at a certain pace. And having things have a certain amount of chaos around them with all the procrastination and the overwhelm, and the burnout, that it feels a bit uncomfortable, to not have that come along for the ride anymore.
But you can learn how that can feel safe. And I often get asked to go on to other podcasts to talk about perfectionism. And I always find it interesting. And I think it’s, again, just a reflection of the way that we as a society talk about and understand perfectionism that they will ask for tips on managing it. Like it’s kind of this beast that you just have to keep under wraps, and it can kind of come out at any minute and, and just ruin all your plans. And that it’s this deep, deep, deep wound that you have to heal. And it’s not to say that we didn’t develop perfectionism as a way to cope with certain childhood traumas. And as a response to that, whether that trauma was something that from the outside in might look traumatic, or whether that trauma was a teacher, or a parent or a sibling making a comment.
And it’s not to say that it isn’t a strategy that is effective in a lot of ways. And that’s why I feel so unsafe to let go of, but that a lot of times, we just bring it into our adult life, and haven’t really had the tools or had the language to really investigate it. And let it be okay, that we’re thinking in this way, and do the practical things that can be done to start getting ourselves into a growth mindset. That’s the work that we do inside PGSD. And a lot of times people can be really focused on “Okay, I just need to get to the root of the experience I had that made me think this way”, or I just need to get to the root of what’s going on.
Let’s cut to the chase the root is shame. It is for all of us. The root is that there was a situation, a significant emotional event. Again, it might be something that from the outside and would look traumatic, it might be something that from the outside in would look completely normal day to day, nothing to even think about. But there was an event that happened. We interpreted it, especially as children, we have to be so kind with ourselves about this, that we interpreted whatever that situation was as like as it meaning that we’re not lovable. But there’s something wrong with us. That’s what shame is, it’s not I did something wrong, it’s I am wrong, there’s something wrong with me.
And then from that point on, we were kind of in this survival mode of trying to make sure that people don’t find out there’s something wrong with us, and that we’re not lovable, and that we don’t get rejected and abandoned, and we could be rejected for failure, or we could be rejected for too much success. So we’re kind of always walking this fine line between will not be a failure, but I don’t want to be too successful. It’s not to say that there’s not stuff in your childhood related to this. But I think when we’re asking these questions, like I need to get to the root of it. And if you’re finding yourself with personal development, being very focused on always needing to get to the root of a belief. What I instead want you to be focused on is your present day thoughts.
You might have been thinking every day since you were a child, but your present day thoughts are what are creating your perfectionist behavior today. And we can change our present day thoughts. Some are easier to change than others, but they can be changed. And so I find it so empowering to instead of thinking deep rooted childhood trauma, personality flaw that needs to be fixed but can’t be fixed. So let’s just try and figure out how to manage it. Instead it’s just your perfectionism, handbrake, everyone has one. And when you were a child, it felt safest to turn that handbrake on, and it served you well.
And now, especially that you’re in business, and your business is going well, and things are working, but maybe you’re not enjoying the process, you’re not ever getting a break, you’re burning yourself out, you’re leaving things to the last minute. Even though things do go well. The experience isn’t great. It no longer is serving us to be in that mindset. And now we have the opportunity and the privilege to be able to do this work, and to be able to learn that there is a different way we can operate and that we’re still safe, and we’re still secure, and that we’re going to be okay. And that is the work we do in PGSD. That’s what we talk about here on the podcast, on Instagram @perfectionismproject. That is what we are talking about there as well.
It’s not this personality flaw that you just need to manage or to try and repress or anything like that. It’s all about getting your perfectionist mindset on your side so that you can feel safe releasing that perfectionism handbrake. So that you can feel safe doing things that previously felt unsafe because you were believing that you aren’t lovable, that you aren’t good enough. And that because of that you have to really make sure no one finds out and therefore do everything perfectly or avoid doing anything imperfectly.
So okay, so let’s talk about a lot of preamble, but this is all kind of mixed into it these reasons that it’s called the perfectionism handbrake. Let’s talk about explicitly, why is it called the perfectionism handbrake? First of all, it’s a reminder that perfectionism is not you. As I said we all have this perfectionism handbrake. We all have it on to varying degrees. So when I teach on the fixed mindset and the growth mindset, so I won’t go into that in detail in this episode, but with the fixed and growth mindset, we are somewhere on that spectrum.
So in the perfectionist mindset, we’re really thinking this fixed way in the sense that our talents, our intelligence, our skills are fixed and can’t be changed. And therefore everything we do is evidence of whether or not we’re good enough. And effort is a sign of inadequacy. In the growth mindset, we really are living by the principle, as I mentioned earlier, that it’s better to try and fail than to have never tried at all. And this idea that we can develop our intelligence, we can develop our skills, and that practice is a good thing.
Needing to practice is a good thing, that failure is a good thing. We don’t just intellectually understand that we actually get it and that is evidence in our actions, because we’re willing to try things that might fail. This is why we have a growth goal. This is why we do Power Plan. This is why we allow ourselves to create a hypothesis as to what might work knowing that it might not work. And giving it a try reflecting on that and iterating as we go.
But perfectionism is not you, we are all somewhere on this spectrum of fixed to growth mindset, and will be at a different place on that spectrum in different areas of our life. So something that I love doing inside PGSD with our PGSDers in my own coaching. And also, I love talking about here on the podcast too is that it’s so helpful to identify an area of your life where you are growth minded. And that could be health and fitness. That could be in relationships. So any area of your life, where you’re willing to try things that might not work. Where you’re really willing to put in an effort and you see effort has been a positive thing.
So maybe in relationships, you see, taking time aside to go out on dates and to work at things to be willing to have conversations to get you and your partner on the same page. Instead of thinking about, it needs to be natural and effortless and the spark isn’t there anymore. Like that’s kind of fixed mindset talk around relationships, love at first sight like all of that natural, effortless, romantic quote, unquote, like a lot of the way that romance is kind of pictured in movies is this fixed mindset wave. It’s perfect from the start and it’s effortless and it just works.
We might be again in that growth mindset around and relationships of relationships take work and they take commitment and discovering each other and figuring out how to communicate and there are going to be ups and downs and all of that kind of thing. So might be that it might be a hobby that you have maybe you play a particular sport or whatever it is. There’s going to be somewhere in your life, where you are more growth minded than the other areas. So our PGSDers and myself as well. I tend to find that any area involving intellect such as school and business tends to be where we are most fixed minded, we’re praised for being smart and intelligent growing up. We were really told that you have to look smart at all times, maybe not consciously told that but getting the praise for the A, even if we did an all nighter and burned out, that kind of reinforce that it doesn’t matter how you do it, but you need to get the A and then we will love you.
So not to make that also heavy, but we’ve been really told that you just have to look smart. And so unfortunately, this means for a lot of us when we don’t do this work on perfectionism, we end up only doing things that are guaranteed to work. Only engaging with skills and processes that we already know, instead of learning the new thing, and allowing ourselves to be a beginner and allowing ourselves to go through the messy middle and the dip. We instead just take the class that we already know that we’re going to get an A in for example, in school, that’s the equivalent of that, that you do the subjects that you know you’re going to do well in. And unfortunately, like the schooling system rewards this, that okay, you should pick, I know at least in my high school, it did. Pick the subjects you’re going to get the best marks in. And also crazy to think that it actually works this way.
And I don’t know if they’ve changed it since but when I went through high school it was, it might actually be a good idea to take a subject that isn’t going to challenge you at all, because you’re going to be the smartest, and get the best result in that class rather than taking a class when you’re going to learn a lot of new things and really challenge yourself, but you might not come out on top. And so a lot of people picked things they were already good at in order to get the A’s so that they could get their university placement they wanted. So they could get the job. And so clap, clap, clap, everyone’s happy. We’re all getting approved of. And it’s not to say that that’s all wrong, but it’s just recognizing it’s not your fault if you have your perfectionism handbrake on and we can actively work to release that handbrake.
As a little sidebar, I’ve been getting quite a few questions lately, especially since having a child of my own, on how to help young ones, and littles with perfectionism. And that could be a whole episode, that could be a whole podcast in and of itself. But I just want to mention here, if you are a parent, that the best way, in my opinion, that you can help your children to be in a growth mindset is to do your work on being in a growth mindset. And then to exemplify that, and as you were doing your work, you can also work on that with them.
This is at least the approach that I’m taking with Lydia, is that, for example, for myself, I’ve really learned with my perfectionism journey, and what I’ve learned about the growth mindset, and all of that is process praise and how important that is, which is praising the effort, the courage, trying something new and all of that. So even though Lydia, at this point in time is only eight months old, and isn’t yet comprehending all of that, it’s so good for me to practice. So instead of saying good girl, very clever, which I definitely can find myself wanting to say, I really focus on praising the effort and the thoughtfulness and persistence and train.
And it’s also not about being in the all or nothing mindset with raising our children and that we need to be perfect so they can turn out perfect. We don’t consciously think we’re doing that. But it’s kind of what we try to do if we have a lot of awareness around how we can set ourselves up to be in a growth mindset or a fixed mindset. And then thinking about raising our children who we love, and doing our best by them that it’s easy to go into that all or nothing thinking and to think that it’s possible that we could somehow ruin them or their childhood or like all these different things, to instead, it’s so important to just be so compassionate with ourselves and that were human. And the goal isn’t for us to be perfect so they can be perfect, and then we can feel good that we’ve raised a perfect child. It’s not the goal, but I really just want to bring you back in and even if you’re not a parent, and you ask, like how can I bring this work to others in my life.
Be an example of the work. Live the work. Release your perfectionism handbrake. Show others what it looks like. And they will ask questions or it’ll just seep through that like, Oh yeah, well mommy just tries and then tries again and then tries again until she gets it. So I’m going to do the same. Instead of Oh yeah, mommy just tries and quits. So be an example of the work. I just wanted to mention cuz I’ve been getting quite a few questions on that since having Lydia.
So your perfectionism handbrake, we call it that because you are not perfectionism. Perfectionism is just coming from a set of beliefs. Again, ones you might have been thinking for quite a long time now. But it’s just your present day beliefs, not these deeply rooted ones, you have to spend all this time digging down into with hours and hours of journaling. There a lot of the really obvious thoughts that we have each day, and the goal isn’t to catch them or, anything like that. It’s really about what is releasing our perfectionism handbrake, little by little by little, and as we’re doing that feeling safer and safer and safer. And I talked about, like I talked about this actually, in the last podcast episode on the growth goal. And in PGSD, we talked about this a lot the upper limit problems. That I really think the upper limit problem is when we’ve just released the perfectionism handbrake, and it feels unsafe, and then we yank the handbrake back on.
Like, that’s part of it. They’re like, Oh, too fast, too fast. This is like all happening too smoothly. And no, no, I’m used to chaos and overwhelm, and procrastination and drama. And I want to go back to that. It’s all normal, but we are not the perfectionism. And we’re able to get into that growth mindset. It’s not about managing perfectionism and healing and overcoming it. It’s about creating a growth mindset. And getting our perfectionist mindset on our side and working with it instead of against it. So that we can get out of our own way and make the money we want to make. Have impact we want to make. Serve the customers you want to make. All of those different things.
So the process for this for releasing your perfectionism handbrake, feeling safe with it off. It’s the PGSD process. So you’re planning properly as a perfectionist. Following through with your plans 80% of time, reting without guilt and repeating. So this is the process your master inside PGSD, and is the process that will make your wildest business dreams a done deal.
So the second reason we call it the perfectionism handbrake, I always feel like by the way, when I say it, it’s like such a tongue twister, perfectionism handbrake, so if you hear me kind of mumbling through the middle, I’m still practicing saying it. So it’s not all or nothing when it comes to releasing your perfectionism handbrake. You can still achieve many of your goals with your handbrake on. And again, this is why we’re so reluctant to release it. We have a history of getting a pluses on a c minus level of efforts.
And when it comes to business, we don’t have someone setting those deadlines, and this is why business is such a great vehicle for all this work, because we’re often doing the thing that most feels like us. So like for me, for example, with accounting, it wasn’t as vulnerable to fail at being an accountant because I didn’t self identify as an accountant. I didn’t feel like that was really me. But when it came to business and talking about personal development, and all the stuff I’m talking about with you today, and doing coaching that felt so me that failing at it felt so incredibly vulnerable. And we don’t have a boss telling us what to do.
And even though there are programs on marketing and different things like that, there’s so many different options. It’s very easy to procrastinate learn and procrasti-research and let ourselves get overwhelmed and subconsciously create that overwhelm. So we don’t have the deadlines. We don’t have someone telling us when to do what we do. And even if we do, for example, if you have a client deadline, that you might then email that client and say, hey, I can give it to you later on. They might say okay, and so it’s easy to kind of push off tasks, and kind of just stay busy doing unimportant things. And I’m feeling really frustrated that we’re putting in so much work. We’re not getting anywhere.
So business really brings up this work that we need to do, but we can still make money with our perfectionism handbrake on. And I say that not as a discouragement from doing this work, but to hopefully calm you down a little so you recognize that you don’t have to completely release your perfectionism handbrake overnight. And honestly, if you did, it would feel so unfamiliar and bizarre, you turn it back on right away, like with the upper limit problems when we are really doing that work, and it’s a beautiful thing to be experiencing those upper limit problems and to release that as like wow, I’ve released my handbrake and I’m getting out of my own way and now my brains are freaking the fuck out and that is normal. That’s happening.
But we don’t need to be in this all or nothing mindset about like getting into a growth mindset and releasing our perfectionism handbrake and then we have to do it yesterday. And that we know we need to do it, we should have done it already. And we know better and all of that. It’s knowing like, we just need to release it little by little. And every little bit, you release it, you’re going to enjoy the experience. You get business more. You are going to find it easier to be courageous, you’re going to be having more of an impact on your customers, you’re gonna be making more money. It’s not this all or nothing thing that you’re either in a perfectionist mindset, or a growth mindset, or your business is either failing or succeeding. There’s so much nuance and when we’re in this all or nothing thinking, we miss the beauty of the in between and the messy middle, because we’re trying to just think of things in this black or white kind of way.
So when it comes to your growth goal, in this regard, there’s no need to delay pursuing your goals in your business until after your perfectionism work is done. If you are thinking of taking this approach, it’s probably going to fall into the procrasti-learning category that you might have, maybe you’ve just discovered this podcast, or you’ve just realized that you’re a perfectionist or different things like that, like, Okay, I need to get this under wraps. And then I can really go all in on the business.
And what I love about PGSD, is that when you do those things, at the same time, that building your business is you doing the work on your perfectionism that those two things go hand in hand, and that your business creates the practical curriculum, for you to do your personal development work on perfectionism and any other areas you need to work on as well.
And I really believe that is why business is just one of those things that like once you’re in business, even if you sold your business, you want to start another business. And it just, it’s so fun when you can really start to be growth minded about it. It’s not this like, Okay, I need to get this all sorted. And I’ve already been doing this work for a year or for two years. And I should know better by now that this is lifelong. And that’s exactly why we would do it, not why we wouldn’t do it. It’s a journey. And it’s a practice. And it’s getting to know ourselves and trust ourselves. And there’s always going to be more and more layers. And the more we’re frustrated when we find the next layer, it’s not going to help.
It’s just going to add this layer of shame and judgment. And we’re going to feel very frustrated and maybe decide to quit on maybe not the business but maybe quit on having big goals or things like that, then we get restless because we actually want to be doing something fulfilling, then we decide to set a big goal again, like this whole thing we want to get out of that by just setting your growth goal each 12 months, pursuing that knowing there’s going to be ups and downs, normalizing that. And when you have your growth goal, it is what as I said takes releasing your perfectionism handbrake from an intellectual pursuit into a practical curriculum. So there’s no need to wait until you’ve done your perfectionism work to really start setting big goals for your business. Doing the work with your business is the best way.
And the third reason that we call it the perfectionism handbrake, is because language gives you access to solutions. When you can’t remember the last time you took a full day of your business, you can just say, oh, it’s just my perfectionism handbrake. When you catch yourself leaving customer emails unread, because you don’t know the right thing to say. So you’re going to just reply later, you can just say to yourself, oh, that’s just my perfectionism handbrake. When it takes you 15 minutes to record a 15 second Instagram story, or when your iPhone notes are full of business ideas you haven’t done anything with yet. When you say yes to Coffee with your mom, even though you’d plan to work on your business, all those things happen, you now have a word for it, instead of it being a problem with you, or your motivation or your business or your potential as a business owner. It’s just Oh, that’s my perfectionism handbrake.
And having a name for it a word for it allows you to identify it and do something about it without the shame. And this is the most important thing that because there is a word for it. And this whole podcast is about this. It means you’re not the only one. You’re not the only one who has your perfectionism handbrake on. If you were, we wouldn’t have this common language that 1000s upon 1000s can relate to, if not many many more.
Most people have their perfectionism handbrake on to some degree, whether or not they recognize it. The fact there’s a name for it, like with shame the fact there’s a name for it means you’re not the only one experiencing it. And in my own journey with perfectionism when I really through the work of Brene Brown and Carol Dweck really started to understand perfectionism and what it actually is and the role it plays in business especially, but what it can look like. And through my own experience and coaching, hundreds of perfectionist, really starting to piece together, what the signs are, how it manifests, and all these different things, that it really helped me to actually do something about it. Because when I thought it was a motivation problem, and we all know, if you Google advice on how to stay motivated, there’s lots of very fluffy advice about Yeah, you should buy the new planner, or maybe buy a workout outfit and leave it out the night before, so that you feel motivated, and all those things create temporary motivation. But we really want to be creating a life where we can trust ourselves.
We can make plans and follow through with them 80% of the time, rest without guilt, where we can actually set our mind to something and then have the resilience and the persistence to go after it and to overcome the obstacles and to overcome the self doubt that comes up along the way and to do it scared. That is such a beautiful thing. And having a name for it can really be a gateway to that. And I felt so ashamed and so stuck for so many years, because I didn’t know what it was called. I thought I was the only one. And this is why PGSD is a group program where you can see others getting coached. Because it really helps to release that shame that we tend to have around, I should know better. I’m the only one who has a lot of potential and isn’t doing anything with it.
The more you can see, you’re not the only one that really helps to release that layer of shame and judgment and actually help you do the work to get into growth mindset. And when I was doing one on one coaching, and I’d have back to back to back to back clients all day. And they were all just kind of in this mentality of Yeah, but I feel like I’m the only one and I should be further along and I shouldn’t be procrastinating and why am I doing this and really just seeing and witnessing that if those women had been able to see what the other ones were getting coached on, they would have been like, oh, thank fuck, it’s not just me.
And I think that Brene Brown book, one of the many is called, I thought it was just me, but it isn’t like that’s what language gives us. This insight that it’s not just us, we’re not the only one, there’s nothing wrong with us, this isn’t a problem to be fixed. This isn’t a personality flaw to be managed. Or, you know, kind of putting a bandaid on top of it. This is part of being a human, a part that we all have ways of dealing with the emotion of shame and trying to avoid it. For most people. That’s perfectionism. And when you get into business, it really brings it up. It’s something that stops a lot of people from getting into business in the first place. Because they don’t have the language around it. Because without the language, they don’t have the tools, they don’t have access to solutions.
So when I talk about perfectionism, and being a perfectionist, it’s not this label to keep you in a box that that’s how you’ll be. And that’s how you’re always going to be, it’s really just about, oh, there’s a word for this way of thinking. I’m not this way of thinking. It’s just my brain having these thoughts because they serve me at a certain point in time. And then it got habitual to think that way. And I haven’t had language or tools or enough practice with those tools yet to be getting out of my own way. And also just to acknowledge that and I did this in the last episode, I went through this, but it bears repeating that it’s a process with ups and downs. And there are so many signs that you are making progress in your perfectionism journey, and your business journey other than you hitting your milestones and achieving your growth goal.
So like even just catching when you’re in an all or nothing cycle, that’s a win, even if you stay in it. That’s a win, that awareness is a win. If you notice that you’re putting too much in your calendar, and you’re under estimating how long a task takes by three times. That’s a win. That’s you making progress. But having language around it, and being willing to identify with something knowing that that’s not going to define who we are, but it’s just giving us language to actually do something about getting out of our own way. It’s going to give us for example, something that we can type into Google or so many people find this podcast by just searching in the bar on Apple podcast perfectionism. It gives you a way to get access to the solutions and to the tools that are going to help you get out of your own way instead of googling things like how to stay motivated, how to stay consistent, how to get more followers, content calendar, like those kinds of things that all just a symptom of this perfectionism work.
So I hope that has been helpful and just given you a bit more of an insight into perfectionism and the journey of overcoming it. As I said, the process this is what we work through in PGSD, this is a process that you will master is planning properly as a perfectionist, following through with your plans 80% of the time, resting without guilt, and repeating.
Renae
Hey now you know why we refer to our perfectionism as a perfectionism handbrake. I want to share this bonus extra clip for you, which is Sam explaining the 10 subtle signs that your perfectionism handbrake is on. Just one thing to note before you listen to this clip is that Sam actually recorded what you’re about to listen to back in May 2021. So that was a little while ago. And back then Sam was talking to specifically coaches starting and building a business. Whereas now Sam helps all entrepreneurs who are building a business through PGSD and everything Sam talks about, but this episode, this clip you’re about to listen to is still so relevant and just know when Sam says, coaching business. We now just replace it with just business. Enjoy this next clip.
Sam Laura Brown
In this episode, I want to talk about what are some of those signs that you have got that perfectionism handbrake on, sometimes it can be obvious and we can know that we have that perfectionism handbrake on. And other times it is a lot more subtle. So I want to talk about some of those things you should be looking out for, to know that releasing your perfectionism handbrake is the next thing that you need to work on in order to build your business because I know for sure that it can be overwhelming, how many different things that are to focus on when it comes to building your business.
There’s marketing strategy, and there are sales strategies. There are so many different things, there’s your website, there’s a million things to do always when it comes to building a business. And it’s up to you to discern what do I need to be working on now. And if you have that perfectionism handbrake on, it is going to make it very, very, very challenging to do anything else, for example, to work on your marketing strategy, because that perfectionism handbrake is going to be slowing you down. So I want you to be able to tell Okay, now is a time for me to work on releasing my perfectionism handbrake, because what will happen is, once you release that handbrake, then you can go and focus on the other things, and they will actually work you will actually get results.
So the first sign is that you never have enough time to get everything done. No matter what you do, how motivated you try to be, how productive you try to be. The different strategies you try to use, no matter how you try to get yourself out of overwhelm. You never have enough time to get everything done, you constantly feel like you are behind. When you’re resting, you feel guilty, because you’re not doing enough. And you know, there’s this whole long list of things that you should be doing with that time. So if you never have enough time, no matter what you do, no matter how hard you try, then this perfectionism handbrake is something you need to work on.
And also, this isn’t in fine noise. But I wanted to mention too, if you never have enough time to get everything done. And when you do have time to be productive, and yet you still can’t get shit done. That is another sign that you need to release your perfectionism handbrake, because I get it, I know what it’s like, but oh my goodness, there’s no time to do anything. I don’t know where to start, you’re in that state of overwhelm. And then you do actually have a day to do stuff, for example, and you end up procrastinating it away, and not knowing where to start, if you can relate to that, that perfectionism handbrake needs to be released.
Number two is that you worry about what other people think of you and your business. It’s so important that you recognize this as your perfectionism handbrake, and that fear of judgment, that fear of shame, the shame that will come after you are judged. And after you are judged, abandoned, whatever, how you will feel after that happens. Because if you were thinking, Okay, if I actually just got enough followers, or if I just do some work on self confidence, and directly, then I’m not gonna be worried about that if I just get a certification, for example, then I am not going to be worried about that it is your perfectionism handbrake, that is making you care so deeply about what other people think of you and your business. It’s making you care more about what they think, than what you think.
And obviously, if you are required to put yourself out there, whether it’s with Instagram with a podcast, whatever medium you choose to promote your coaching services, if you are worried about what other people are going to think, and especially if those people you’re worried about can actually view what you’re posting on Instagram, for example, it is going to be so challenging to put yourself out there to do it in a consistent way to do it without falling off the wagon to really show up fully to attract your ideal clients. So that’s the perfectionism handbrake, issue.
Number three is your all or nothing when it comes to social media. So you keep falling off the wagon and maybe it is that, you know, you decide okay, I’m going to take Instagram seriously again, and I’m going to get back to posting and I’m going to do stories and reels and posts and whatever it is you decide. And then you do that for a few days or a few weeks. You hear crickets when you’re doing that you’re not getting comments. You’re not getting DMS it kind of starts feeling embarrassing, and then you fall off the wagon. But you’re still on Instagram because you’re scrolling and you’re checking out what everyone else is doing and comparing yourself and feeling bad. But you’re not actually posting to the outside doesn’t look like you’re actually on Instagram.
And then you get in this place of like, okay, maybe I’ve just been shadow banned. And I don’t know is it Mark Zuckerberg that hates me and I hate the algorithm and all that kind of thing. And then you just eventually give up on it completely, until something inspires you have to give it another go, you take it seriously, again, you fall off the wagon again, and on and on. And on it goes. If you are doing that, that is a perfectionism handbrake issue, you just need to learn how to release that perfectionism handbrake, and anyone can learn how to do that.
Number four is you know what to do, but you can’t get yourself to actually do it. So this can be challenging to identify. Because when we are scared of taking the next step towards something, we will pretend with ourselves that we’re confused, and that we don’t actually know what we need to do next. And you can get really clear on whether you do know what you need to do. Because if you had a friend, for example, who was in the situation you’re in right now with their business, that the same business as you, they said, Hey, I don’t know what I should do to get more clients, I don’t know what I need to focus on. I can’t think of any ideas, if you could coach them pretty well. And you could tell them what they need to do, which is more advice giving than coaching. But if you could do that, you know what to do. We just love to pretend to ourselves that we don’t know what to do.
But you probably as well as spending a lot of time procrasti-learning, procrasti-researching which other signs your hand brakes on. And you actually know quite a lot about different strategies, different tactics. You don’t know everything, but you know enough to take that next step. And maybe, for example, you’ve invested in an Instagram course, but you’re not actually doing the things that they tell you to do in the Instagram course, if that is something that is going on for you. Or maybe you’re doing the Instagram course and you’re falling off the wagon with the course itself. And you’re meant to be further along than you are by now. But you’re just not able to get yourself to actually show up and even work through the modules. That’s a perfectionism handbrake thing you need to learn and be taught how to release that perfectionism handbrake, so you can actually do the things you know you need to do.
Number five, you’re always busy, but have nothing to show for it. This is a big one. If you feel like you have been working on your business for a while now and it should be more successful than it is. And it’s so frustrating to you. And it’s embarrassing to you that you’ve been working on it for this long and it you still don’t have anything to show for it. That is a sign that your perfectionism handbrake is on and that it needs to be released. Perfectionist love feeling busy and productive. We have that belief if I do more than I’ll be more feels so vulnerable to be unproductive with time. Which is so ironic because when the handbrake sign, we are overwhelmed procrastinating burning out, it’s wasting a whole lot of time not being productive. But if you are always busy, you’re someone who loves being busy. You’re constantly doing little things to work on your business and big things as well.
And you feel like you’re really putting an effort in, but you have nothing to show for it. Your perfectionism handbrake is on. It’s in this situation, for example, you can be like, Okay, I’m always busy, I have nothing to show for it. That means I am doing the wrong marketing strategy. But this is not a marketing strategy issue. This is an issue with prioritization, you’re most likely prioritizing the unimportant even though it feels so important. You are doing the things that don’t actually matter. Are you spending too long doing certain things, and this is something to really be aware of when you are in that perfectionist mindset with the handbrake on, you are going to be wanting to feel busy but not want to feel vulnerable and not want to feel open to failure to shame, to criticism to any of those things. So you will be spending a lot of time doing things that don’t matter and you will make it take as long as possible.
So you can crowd out your calendar, your day, your week, your month your year with those more comfortable tasks that show they’re important to some degree but you’re taking way longer on them they’re needed probably overthinking it a lot. You crowd out your calendar with those things so that you don’t actually have to show up and promote yourself fully. For example you might be like okay, well no I am promoting myself but I you directly telling people about what you do. Have you actually told people have you told them multiple times? Or are you just saying in a very a subtle, quiet way, by the way I have signed that could help you but you know, you probably don’t want it, you know, DM if you want, but you don’t have to and like how you showing up with your energy when it comes to that thing.
And it’s probably that you are spending so much time on the unimportant stuff. So that you don’t have to do the scary things that you know you need to do to build your coaching business. But you can say, well, not I’m so busy. I don’t even have time to do all of that stuff. So sneaky. What our brains do when there’s perfectionism handbrake is on. But again, if you’re always busy and have nothing to show for it, that perfectionism handbrake has got to be released.
Number six is you’ve come across other coaches who started their business after you and are more successful than you. I know how disheartening this can feel. When you are really putting what feels like a full effort in you’re struggling, you are trying you aligning, and yet you see someone who started after you started your business and already has more follow followers is making more money is full time in their business and you’re like, hey, I started before them. Why is it that I’m not further along by now. The reason for that is that your perfectionism handbrake is slowing you down. As I said at the beginning, when it comes to building a coaching business, if your perfectionist mindset is working against you, it is like driving a car with the handbrake on.
And when you are driving that car with the handbrake on and other people start driving their car without the handbrake on, they are going to overtake you and you are going to burn out because you are driving with that handbrake on, you’re spinning your wheels, you’re not getting very far it’s getting frustrating because people who say that, like I could do a better job at marketing them and a better job at coaching them and you’re not doing that to be vain. Or you’re just like, I believe in my potential. And yet this person started off to me and is already ahead of me what the hell is happening. It’s your perfectionism handbrake.
The next one is that you jump from one marketing strategy or program to the next because nothing is working. I kind of talked about this before how it’s really a misdiagnosis of the problem that you think the issue is the marketing strategy, when the issue is that your perfectionism handbrake is slowing you down and stopping that marketing strategy from working. So it doesn’t matter how good that marketing strategy is, if that perfectionism handbrake is on, and you’re overthinking, you’re overwhelmed, you’re procrastinating, you’re burning out, you’re scared of judgment, you all or nothing, you’re falling off the wagon, then you are really going to really struggle with any marketing strategy that you are trying to implement.
So what will happen if you are misdiagnosing the issue and not realizing this is your perfectionism handbrake is that you’ll say okay, maybe I shouldn’t do Instagram, maybe I should do a podcast or a YouTube channel. Or maybe I shouldn’t do this strategy on Instagram, maybe I should do another one. That is a sign that your perfectionism handbrake is on, especially if that’s something that keeps happening again and again. And again.
Number eight is you can’t stick to your goals and plans for more than a few weeks. So when that perfectionism handbrake is on, and if it has been on for quite a while, because that’s the thing with this handbrake, it’ll be on and you won’t even realize for most of that time that it has been on, which is why it can get so frustrating. If that handbrake is on, in the initial stages, you will be setting goals and making plans and really being optimistic and hopeful and doing your best to follow through, but then falling off the wagon because that handbrake is on and when that repeats enough times, your self trust will be so diminished that you will set goals and plans already thinking like I’m just going to disappoint myself like why am I even bothering or you’re subconsciously going to set a smaller goal or a vague goal.
So in terms of the small goal, you’re setting that because you’re like, Well, I don’t want to disappoint myself. The key here is to set a small goal and I can actually achieve it because it’s realistic, which is such a big mistake. And that’s really putting your perfectionism handbrake on. But then also you might be having vague goals, like I want to go full time I want to get fit, I want to be healthy, like that kind of thing. Because it’s so vague that you can’t really tell whether or not you’ve achieved it. You haven’t really defined what that is. So then you don’t have to be as vulnerable around your goal. You can’t fail If you can’t feel the shame that might come with that.
And then if your handbrake has been on for even longer, you will just stop setting goals and stop making plans and you will be winging it, you might have spurts of motivation every now and again. So maybe at the end of a new year, to set goals and to make plans, but besides those spurts of motivation, you are just like, not, why even bother, I’m just gonna do my best and show up and hope that I get there. You don’t even know where but hope that I get there. So if you can relate to that, your perfectionism handbrake is on. And we want you to release that handbrake, because if you can’t stick to your goals and plans for more than a few weeks, you’re never going to achieve anything. Because it takes more than a few weeks to actually achieve result. And this is where the dip comes in.
So the dip is that period of time between when you’re motivated. And when you’ve gotten results. In the dip, your motivation is gone, and you haven’t gotten results yet. This is where we tend to quit our perfectionism handbrake is on, you have to be able to get through that without relying on motivation to get the results you want. And that dip is probably gonna start, you know, a few weeks, maybe a few months into it. At the latest, it’ll start pretty early. Basically, it’s what I’m trying to say. And then those results aren’t going to come for at least a few months. So you need to release that perfectionism handbrake, so you can actually get through that dip and get the results.
Number nine, is that you’ve considered giving up or taking a break from your business because you feel so disheartened and discouraged. You feel like I’m just putting so much effort into this. I’m trying to get clients. I’m trying to sell my program, my cause my membership, whatever it is, I’m trying to get followers and nothing is working. Maybe if I take a break, maybe if I quit, not that I want to quit, but maybe if I just quit and give up and go back to what I was doing. I won’t feel so bad. Please if that is you, I feel for you. I totally get it. But that is just your perfectionism handbrake that is on. It is not that you can’t succeed. It is not that you can’t build a successful business.
It’s not that you’re a bad coach. It is just that your perfectionism handbrake has been on probably all the way up and is seriously slowing you down. And now you’re like okay, well, maybe if I just stopped driving. Instead, you can just release the handbrake and drive at full speed and do that without burning out. But when we don’t even realize it is that perfectionism handbrake we think, oh, there’s something wrong with me, there’s something wrong with the car, either business, I just need to stop. That also of everything. If I can just stop I’ll just take a break or just regroup. All you need to do is get taught how to release your perfectionism handbrake.
Number 10 Is you feel frustrated that you’re not reaching your potential. So kind of talked about this amongst all of the other signs. But this is so key. And for me, this was what really got me to do the work on my own and perfectionism handbrake, because I just got so sick and tired of being in my own way, I knew that I was meant to do more than like what was laid out in front of me. I knew that I could do bigger things, I could do better things. I had more ambition, I had more potential. I was smarter than that. And yet, I was getting my own way. I was, you know, I had all the signs. I wasn’t doing the things that I actually knew I needed to do. I always felt busy, but I had nothing to show for it. I was just so frustrated. And the thought that if I didn’t release my perfectionism handbrake, that I would be just another person who had all this potential and all these hopes and dreams, and yet never actually did anything with it. That thought that realization was so motivating to me.
And it made me do that work on my perfectionism handbrake, and now I’ve gotten to where I am today because I didn’t want to be that person who never reached their potential and who just had all these dreams about it, and told other people about wanting to do this and I want to do that and never actually lived it. So those are 10 signs that your perfectionism handbrake is on, and I just want to talk quickly about what will happen if you don’t release your handbrake and what will happen if you do so if you don’t, you’ll keep falling off the wagon with social media no matter what sort of do you try which is such a bummer. your to do list will remain a constant source of overwhelm and guilt.
So you will never be able to get on top of it you will always feel behind. You always feel guilty that you’re not as productive as you could be. Your coaching business won’t take off because you’ll keep getting in your own way. So remember, it’s like the car with the handbrake on and you can’t get at full speed with the handbrake on and you’re going to burn your tires out like it’s just not going to work. You need to release that perfectionism handbrake, you’ll have to say in your unfulfilling day job leaving for the weekend living for vacations, and time off. You’ll also as I said before, you’ll be another person who had big hopes and dreams that they never actually achieved.
Like, I don’t want to be grim about it. But that is a reality that without releasing this perfectionism handbrake, you’re going to get to the end of your life, and look back and be like, Ah, I wish I had just actually tried, but the reason you aren’t able to show up fully and do the things is because that perfectionism handbrake is on. I’m recording this episode, I have this whole podcast, I had PGSD, because I don’t want that for you. I know that you wouldn’t be listening to this podcast episode right now. If you didn’t believe that you have potential if you didn’t believe that you could actually make a difference as a coach and create the life that you want it for yourself. I don’t want you to be someone who didn’t even realize that perfectionism handbrake was on like, that was me for the first five years of my business, I didn’t even realize that that was a problem.
And once I did, and once I released the handbrake, it really took off so quickly from that point on. I don’t want you to be like, Oh, I should just quit or I need to take a break or like, have all these frustrations I’ve mentioned in this episode, when really it’s just a matter of recognizing your perfectionism handbrake is on and then getting taught how to release it quickly and easily. Now, here’s what will happen if you do release your perfectionism handbrake, A, you’ll be able to easily create consistent content, even when you’re not motivated. B, you go to bed every night feeling productive, and accomplished. And I have to say, of all of these, to me, this one has been my favorite, to go to bed, and put my head on my pillow and just be like, Ha, I am so proud of what I did today.
I should upper myself today, especially because I have a history of that not happening, years and years and years of going to bed and being like, Oh, I feel so guilty about today and that I didn’t get shit done. And hopefully tomorrow is going to be different, but it probably isn’t going to be any different. Like Knowing that ahead of time, which made it feel even worse than just kind of compounds at night after night after night. But now going to bed and feeling like I’m actually getting shit done. I’m doing what I want to do with my life I’m having a clean rest to it’s so satisfying. You will also feel confident in your business, regardless of what your loved ones say.
So if you aren’t around a lot of people who get coaching who get personal development, you understand business in this whole world. Then with your perfectionism handbrake on especially, you’ll be worried about what others think of you and your business that will really stop you in your tracks. But with your perfectionism handbrake released, you’ll feel confident in your business, regardless of what your loved ones, say, your colleagues or the haters in the comments or whatever it is. Your coaching business will soon be able to support you full time, if it isn’t already.
This was one of the most immediate results that came for me after I did my work to release my perfectionism handbrake, which really for me was 2018 like the end of 2018, mid to Yeah, mid to late 2018 that I was like, I’m going I’m releasing this perfectionism, handbrake, and I was full time in my business. Less than a year after that. You’ll also be able to live your life, on your terms doing what you were born to do doing what you actually want to do. You listen to this podcast, because you want to build a successful coaching business. And because your perfectionism handbrake is currently stopping you and if you release that handbrake, which anyone can learn to do. If you release that handbrake, you will be able to achieve all the things that you want to achieve. So I hope this episode has really inspired you to do the work on your perfectionism handbrake.
Outro
If you’re not sure whether perfectionism is what’s making you get in your own way, then I invite you to take the perfectionism quiz. After working with over 1000 perfectionist entrepreneurs, I created this free quiz so you can get your personalised perfectionism score, and discover which of the five signs of perfectionism you would most benefit from overcoming whether it’s overthinking procrastination, burnout, all or nothing thinking or fear of judgement. You don’t need to focus on overcoming all of it at once. Just knowing your top sign of perfectionism is going to allow you to focus in and actually move the needle when it comes to getting out of your own way. It takes less than three minutes to get your unique result and be one step closer to getting shit done without burning out. If you love learning about yourself and you’re ready to get out of your own way in your business. Go to samlaurabrown.com/quiz to take the quiz today.