Ever beaten yourself up for your high standards and perfectionism? Has anyone else? Then this book is the answer to every person and program you’ve ever heard say you need to just “let go”, “relax”, “chill out” and “stop caring so much”. How does that relate to frugal living? Oh, let me count the ways…We’re always striving to hit the perfect dollar amounts in our budgets, make the best and healthiest low cost meals we can, and live a fabulous life on a dime. Sound familiar?
We’re perfectionists! We DO care about things that others don’t seem to feel are all that important. We want to do and be the best at everything, and usually for less. That’s because we are creating something new, something that requires a high level of attention and detail that others might not view as important.
We have to be passionate about our work (which rarely feels like work) or it will never be born. It’s a natural part of the creative process, which is why a book like this is so important for everyone, especially those who are creative and artistic (which is everyone, really.)
Positively Perfect shows you how to turn these qualities, which are often demonized, into the blessings they truly are. It’s an uplifting and encouraging read to be savored, not sped through. We can learn to view problems and setbacks that arise as the feedback they truly are, rather than failures. We can stop judging every flaw and start enjoying both the journey and the accomplishment when we finally get to the finish line. How wonderful!
I’ve spent a good portion of my life berating myself for my perfectionism. I knew I didn’t fit in, but I’d try anyway to squeeze myself into a cookie cutter mold that was NOT me. I spent years attempting to be what everyone else thought I should be and to stop caring about what was important to me. Perfectly, of course! I even left a manuscript I loved sitting for 10 years because of what others told me I could and could not do with it.
But something magical changes in your 40s, especially for perfectionists. You stop caring so much about what others think and start wanting to express who you truly are. Positively Perfect helps you embrace some of the best parts of yourself. Parts you may have been told your entire life that you needed to “fix” in order to fit in. You don’t. And you don’t have to wait till your forties either. You can embrace them NOW instead, and this book shows you how.
I felt like Claudia was talking to me personally on every page. I didn’t want to miss a thing. I highlighted and made notes throughout the entire book, because I know I’ll be pouring over it again and again. There’s also a free workbook available with a couple of week’s worth of exercises to get you started on this new journey of making peace with perfectionism and using it to its greatest potential. Baby steps! We can do this!
And I’m happy to say, my manuscript sits finished, awaiting publication, and many other ideas have swarmed in to take its place. I am learning to love this part of myself as the gift it truly is. I hope you will do that for yourself as well. Reading and being Positively Perfect is the best gift I’ve ever given myself, and it can be the same for you.
And what better time to pick up a copy for you and your loved ones than at Christmas, when we’re all driving ourselves and each other crazy trying to make it all perfect! Pick up a copy and have a positively, perfectly wonderful holiday and new year!
Thank you for this great review Kim. I am also a perfectionist in so many parts of my life but that word has come to have such negative connotations that I hardly dared use it!! So good on the author, Claudia Svartefoss, for turning this around, back into something to live up to.
I look forward to reading this book and making the most of the workbook.