(Originally posted September 12, 2013)

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Here’s my favorite quote from the Week One workout of Jillian Michaels’ Ripped in 30 DVD (which, if you’re lucky, you can hear above the sound of your own panting):

When you bring everything you have to every situation…that’s where the magic happens. It doesn’t have to be perfect! Perfect sucks! Perfect is boring! You know what matters? You matter! It matters that you give it all that you have.

How often do you not start something because you know there’s more you need to learn or more you need to practice or more you need to polish before you’ll take it live and go public?

Ever tried to learn a language but been too afraid of sounding like an idiot to actually practice speaking that language? That was my experience of living in Madrid, Spain, for a semester during college. I thought if I just heard it more and read it more, I’d finally get it. Guess what? I was wrong and I was being a wuss. I was too afraid to put myself on the line and be vulnerable to the learning process. And guess what? I still suck at speaking Spanish!

Now, many years later, I work in an environment in which I’m surrounded every day by coworkers speaking English, Yiddish, and Hebrew all bundled together in one sentence. What would that be? Hebrish? I’m always mispronouncing words, being corrected, and then repronouncing words, and then maybe later needing another reminder of how to pronounce that same word…

And you know what?

I’m learning so much faster and I’m having so much more fun!

I no longer put insane pressure on myself to be perfect. And what’s even better is that I now realize I’m contributing to those around me because they get a kick out of hearing me try and they get a kick out of helping me learn. They feel honored that I would care enough to want to learn (because it is in no way a requirement of my job).

My goal for the next 90 days is to blog EVERY SINGLE DAY. And although in the past that would have seemed totally impossible and unreasonable, I now KNOW this is something I can do and have a great time doing.

I know that anything I don’t already know about blogging, I can learn as I go. Because now I know that I don’t have to be perfect. Now I know that, as Jillian so eloquently stated in her badass tone of voice,

“Perfect is boring!”

Where are you holding back in your life because you’re unwilling to seem foolish? What makes you so special that you think you can (or should) avoid showing that you’re on a learning curve…while learning something new?!

When toddlers learn to walk they don’t berate themselves every time they fall. They aren’t even fazed. So let’s all go out there and learn something new

and NOT BE FAZED by the bumps and the bruises and the hilarity that ensues!

I’d love for you to join me as often as you can during the next 90 days. And I’d love to hear what you’re learning and how your process is being enhanced by LETTING GO OF PERFECT!