Perfectionism is like saying, “I NEED to pay $1000 for this banana.” 🍌
“And if I don’t get to pay $1000, I’m going to leave the store and not buy anything.” 😡
Perfectionism is like saying…
“I NEED to pay $1000 for this banana.
If I don’t get to pay $1000 for this banana, I’m going to leave the store and not buy anything.
$1000 or nothing.”
What happens when you pay $1000 for a banana?
First, obviously, you lose $999.70.
This banana doesn’t cost $1000!
Your $999.70 would be WAY better spent somewhere else.
Nevertheless, the clerk will take your $1000.
He’s not complaining.
He only needed 30¢, and he got $999.70 for free .
Good deal for him!
You leave the store genuinely believing that the banana cost $1000.
You’re reinforcing a belief that things are expensive.
You would have loved to buy a banana, a soda, and a bag of chips…
But you don’t have $3000!
So you’ll have to settle for just this banana.
You also reinforce a certain identity .
The identity of:
”I’m the kind of person who spends $1000 on everything, no matter what it is.
I’m not like those slobs that spend 30¢ on bananas.
I have standards.”
Obviously, this sounds insane.
But now replace $1000 with “time and effort.”
How often are you given a task to do…
And you say “I need to do this as well as I possibly can. I need to do an A+ job at this.”
You probably don’t even say it consciously — you’ve believed this for so long that it’s just an obvious fact of life.
What happens when you do this task to an A+ level of quality?
First, you lose “$999.70” worth of time and effort.
Nine times out of ten, the task in no way needed that much time or dedication from you.
Nevertheless, the “clerk” will “take your $1000.”
Whoever you were doing the task for isn’t going to complain about it being done so well.
They’re like — Thanks for the freebie!
After you’re done, you “genuinely believing that the banana cost $1000.”
Aka: You genuinely believe that your task required that much time and effort.
It’s another proof point for your belief that things take time and things are hard.
You look at everything else on your to do list and you’re already exhausted.
“Holy crap, I have to do 10 more of these? I don’t have time for all this.”
And you also reinforce a certain identity .
You’ve reinforced your identity of:
“I am a person who always does things well.
I’m not like those slobs that do B- work.
I have standards.”
I want you to think about this comparison…
And I want you to ask yourself…
Where are you paying $1000 for bananas in your life right now?
What might change for you, if you paid 30¢ for bananas and had $999.70 to put towards other things?
And most importantly…
What fears does your brain have about actually doing that?
Where is your brain telling you…
“Let’s just keep paying $1000 for bananas, just to be safe.
This whole 30¢ for bananas thing sounds really risky.”
Come talk to me, and tell me your answers.
And let’s start getting you on a more reasonable banana budget today 🍌
You can drop by anytime for a no-strings-attached coffee chat ☕️
It’s not a sales pitch.
It’s just an opportunity for us to discuss whatever’s on your mind…
And I’ll offer some one-off coaching and brainstorming about your situation.
Or you can book a consult call, and we can map out a full coaching engagement.
So you can systematically train your brain out of its current banana spending habits…
And unlock the time wealth, mental space, and freedom that comes with being strategically thrifty with your time and effort :)
What my clients have to say…
“Coaching helped me get up and feel empowered and feel like I could actually change my outcome based on how I thought about things.
Having been a real academic overachiever, I get into this situation where if things are not perfect, I get stuck in a rut. Unless it’s all perfect, I don't move forward.
But Pooja taught me the concept of ‘quantity creates quality’ and gave me practical goals every week, and that really helped me move forward in my professional life (and even in my dating life!).
I moved from just sitting around in my room overthinking everything and not really taking any action, to having weekly appointments to move things forward, and having someone holding me accountable to getting stuff done.
And that just gave me a lot more self-belief and structure.”
—Client | Communications Consultant turned Lawyer
I help high-stress high achievers build their careers around flow.
This requires…
Internally, learning how to access your flow no matter what’s going on around you (or inside you)
Externally, designing a career strategy that angles your flow at a high-priority problem that someone will pay you good money to solve
Tactically, navigating the transition from the role you’re in to the role you want
Today’s article focused on #1.
For more writing on all 3 of these, check out my table of contents.
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