Post Recommendation

Great post at Escape from Obesity about how perfectionist thinking (or simply over thinking) really screws with you in the now. Here's some quotes:

The other day I was thinking about this tendency I have to believe that something has to have an end point, or a goal, or some sort of measurement to be "perfect" in order to be worthwhile. It's hard to put a finger on this, but let me try and give a couple of examples.

When I think about strength training, or even when I *do* strength train, I feel great. But then I start to think, "What about next month when I go on vacation? I will be driving a lot, visiting a lot, and I probably won't have the time or equipment to weight train. All my efforts will be for nothing if I strength train all week NOW because if I skip weight training for 2 or 3 weeks I will be back to square one." Or, I go even further into the future. "I don't know if lifting weights is sustainable for the next 40 or 50 years. There will be times I am sick or busy. I might get tired of it and stop. I might get too old to be doing this. And then I will stop and all my lifting will have been for nothing."

Lifting weights JUST FOR TODAY gives me benefits even if I *never* lift weights again. I'll become stronger *for today*, I will feel energized and get more done. I will be proud of myself. I love the feeling I get after a good strength training session! And that makes it worth doing *today.* No strings attached.

Biking helps me feel better *today.* It gets my circulation going, I feel more alive, and it improves the condition of my knees. I do feel amazing after a bike ride, and that makes it worth doing *just today* even if I never do it again.

Sure, it would be ideal to have a future guaranteed to be filled with lots of weight lifting, biking, an immaculate house and a perfect, slim body, but sometimes we gotta just step back and say, "this is worth doing for today, regardless of the long term outcome." Because we cannot control the future.

So let go of the tomorrow worries, the perfectionism, the silly rationalizations. No matter what tomorrow may bring, do the BEST thing for you TODAY!

This was particularly inspirational for me--I think that I am particularly guilty of barrier thinking like this (for example, I'm trying to get a new job as a teacher for next Fall and I'm already thinking about how my exercise routine will change then, so maybe I should try to start that routine now all the while not doing what I need to do TODAY!)