Progress over perfection has turn into a well-liked saying within the well being and wellness house, however at Lindywell, it’s been a core worth for the reason that very starting. One factor we’ve realized over time, nonetheless, is that it may be onerous to let go of self-criticism in our fashionable world, the place everybody’s successes are made public. Good day, comparability, disgrace, and judgment.
Striving for that false notion of perfection, nonetheless, slows you down, pulls you away out of your most genuine self, and leaves you feeling defeated most of the time. When you possibly can shift your focus as an alternative to progress, the expertise and journey turn into extra fulfilling.
What’s extra, the thought of perfection, nicely, it turns into much less essential.
For those who’re nonetheless struggling to clean these sharp, vital edges, now we have a easy however highly effective framework so that you can embrace progress over perfection.
The Six Ideas of Pilates
Whereas there are a number of methods to embrace the journey, at Lindywell, we discover that Pilates is the very best trainer. Particularly, the six guiding rules, which break down as follows:
- Focus
- Management
- Breath
- Precision
- Heart
- Circulation
Fairly than striving for perfection, we give attention to doing it nicely, feeling good, and staying related. This progress-over-perfection method is just not at all times the norm within the health business, significantly on this planet of Pilates.
Right here, we take a extra grace-filled and progress-focused method to Pilates and health as a complete, and you are able to do the identical, on and off the mat. Now, let’s see how we are able to apply these six rules to the thought of progress over perfection.
Embrace Progress Over Perfection With the Six Ideas
Right here’s how you need to use these six rules to really embrace progress over perfection, and expertise all of the goodness that this shift can carry. As at all times, take what resonates and implement what feels good. Not all of those will really feel related to your life, however one or two could also be simply what you want.
Focus
Commit totally however stay versatile.
Your needs and wishes ebb and movement and so your method to attaining targets ought to comply with swimsuit. To embrace progress over perfection, you want to decide to what you want, however keep in mind that the best way you get there can evolve together with you.
On this method, what “perfection” appears like shifts as nicely. At one time, perfection might have been going to the health club 5 days every week earlier than work. Now, with two youngsters at dwelling, it appears like 10 minutes of Pilates two days every week with the Lindywell app.
In each circumstances, you had been dedicated totally to what you desired, to really feel nice in your physique, however how you bought there modified as your circumstances shifted. That’s embracing progress over perfection.
Management
Be acutely aware, deliberate, and intentional.
In Pilates, we seek advice from controlling your motion. Being intentional and deliberate, transferring slowly and consciously. The identical goes for embracing the progress over perfection mindset. Once you give attention to progress, you focus much less on “getting it proper” and extra on being deliberate as you progress towards what we want.
As an alternative of wishing that what you need would simply be right here already, and getting annoyed when it’s not, you turn into extra conscious and in tune with your self. Ask your self questions like, Why am I annoyed? What may I alter to make this really feel simpler or much less anxious? Then take intentional motion based mostly in your sincere and genuine solutions.
Breath
Leverage the breath-body connection.
Take into consideration a second once you had been making an attempt to get all the pieces good. You might have been dashing round. Your thoughts was in all probability racing. You might have felt frantic and anxious. You had been targeted solely on getting it good.
Although you could not have realized it on the time, your breath was additionally possible shallow and quick. That is how we breathe after we’re anxious and harassed. Such a respiratory then feeds that very same state of anxious being.
The excellent news is, merely slowing and deepening your breathing can instantly shift you right into a extra calm and centered state of being. It’s on this state you can let go of that concept of perfection, and as an alternative, see that being “adequate” is in reality, good.
Precision
Do it nicely, however at your individual tempo and in your individual method.
Perfection is a driving pressure once you really feel the necessity to get one thing proper in line with another person’s requirements or due to what another person may assume. The concept of precision may be utilized to progress over perfection as a reminder that you are able to do it nicely, however at your individual tempo and in your individual method.
For instance, in case your purpose is to make motion part of your common routine to really feel stronger in your physique, doing it nicely appears like:
- Determining what kind of motion feels good for you and specializing in that.
- Including it into your schedule when it’s possible, reasonably than forcing it throughout a time that doesn’t give you the results you want, like early within the morning.
- Trusting that your physique will construct power when you commit—and it might not occur straight away, however within the time that’s best for you.
Doing it your method, and doing it nicely based mostly by yourself requirements, is what progress over perfection is all about.
Heart
Search alignment above all else.
At Lindywell, we begin each exercise with centering. That is essential once you’re in your mat, however I’d argue it’s much more essential off your mat. In life, you’re surrounded by folks, experiences, and circumstances that may simply throw you off-center.
Once you get out of alignment, you lose sight of what’s best for you. Then it turns into straightforward to begin specializing in perfection in line with somebody or one thing else. Once you keep in alignment, it’s simpler so that you can come again to your heart, test in, let go of “perfection,” and focus again in on what feels good for you in every second.
You should still veer off beam, or get distracted by “perfection. Once you follow coming again to your heart, nonetheless, like with Pilates, you’ll at all times have the ability to get again into your individual alignment.
Circulation
Discover yours and let it information you.
Pilates at all times feels unimaginable, however when you’ve practiced even just some instances, you know the way actually juicy it feels once you get into the movement. In that house, perfection doesn’t matter—what issues is staying related to that motion and that have.
Discovering this movement in your life, and letting it’s your guiding pressure, is vital to embracing progress over perfection. The journey feels greatest after we create our personal present and movement with that, reasonably than letting another person outline it for us.
Let’s Love the Journey
Striving for perfection is tiring. It additionally retains us disconnected from ourselves and what we actually want, creating nervousness and stress alongside the best way. Use these methods and concepts to attach again to you, discover your movement, and give attention to the journey that’s meant for you. When the journey feels wonderful, reaching perfection doesn’t matter, as a result of it’s already nice the place you’re.
