Hello, hello, everyone. This is Tanya Dalton, owner of Inquell Press, and I'm here to give you

another episode of The Weekender, a mini episode to help you end your week on the right note.

This week on the podcast, we talked about the pursuit of perfection. So for this week's

many episode, I thought I would share an excerpt from Elizabeth Gilbert's book, Big Magic, where I

think she sums up the issue with perfectionism so nicely. Here's what she says. Perfectionism

stops people from completing their work. Yes, but even worse, it often stops people from beginning their work.

Perfectionists often decide in advance that the end product is never going to be satisfactory,

so they just don't even bother trying to be creative in the first place.

The most evil trick about perfectionism, though, is that it disguises itself as a

virtue. In job interviews, for instance, people will sometimes advertise their perfectionism as if it is

their greatest selling point, taking pride in the very thing that is holding them back from enjoying

their fullest possible engagement with creative

living. They wear their perfectionism like a badge of honor, as if it signals high taste

and exquisite standards. But I see it differently. I think perfectionism is just high-in

hoketure version of fear. I think perfectionism is just fear in fancy shoes and a mint coat,

pretending to be elegant when it's actually just terrified. Because underneath that shiny

veneer, perfectionism is nothing more than a deep existential angst that says again and again,

I am not good enough and I never will be good enough.

Perfectionism is a particular evil lure for women, who I believe hold themselves to an even

higher standard of performance than do men. Holding back their ideas, holding back their contributions,

holding back their leadership and their

talents. Too many women still seem to believe that they are not allowed to put themselves forward

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