Revealing my True Colours: The Perfectionist

The Dawn of a Brand New Year: An opportunity for beautiful beginnings, life changes and personal growth. The world awakens once more, eagerly embracing our hopes and dreams for a better and brighter tomorrow.

This post is the first in a series of five articles in which I ultimately intend to reveal my TRUE COLOURS.

I'll be sharing with you how my dominant personality traits affect my design style, my creativity and my quality of life, and what I hope to change about myself in the coming year.

And, while this personal challenge is difficult (and terrifying!) for me, my intention is to begin an open and honest dialogue with you, my readers, that will hopefully help us understand and learn more about each other and what makes us who we are.

Chapter 1:  The PERFECTIONIST

As a self-oriented perfectionist, my expectations of others are far more realistic and accepting than those I inflict upon myself. I'm compelled to always give my best, whether I'm writing, decorating, or developing my blog.

And while that's not necessarily a bad quality, it takes me forever to complete a single post!

I spend hours researching my topic, resizing each image and arranging them by colour to create visual flow and continuity, and brutally editing my written work for proper spelling, grammar and accuracy. I then save the piece and review it again later with fresh eyes before I finally hit 'publish'.

(Phoebe Howard)

My desire for perfection also influences my interior design preferences. I'm naturally attracted to symmetry and balance, and I admire rooms where thoughtful attention has been given to the tiniest of details.

(Cindy Ray)

(Samantha Pynn)

I'm continually changing and 'perfecting' each room in our home. In my mind, my best is rarely ever good enough.

Upon reflection, I now realize how my perfectionism is preventing me from truly enjoying the creative experience of writing, decorating and working on my blog.

And so, the first step in my personal growth plan for 2012 is:

Replace my motto of 'I Must Always Do My Best' with:

Now, it's your turn. Are you a perfectionist? Are you highly critical of yourself or your work? Or, do you embrace the concept that:

I look forward to reading your thoughts and comments, and hope you'll still choose to follow my blog even though I'm crazy enough to reveal my TRUE COLOURS for you and the whole world to see!