The first email I read alerted me to a problem. Had I done something wrong? My shoulders tightened.

Then a typo glared at me from the subject line of an email I’d sent the day before. Hadn’t I checked that? My heart rate increased. 

Several emails later, I’d discovered three more errors in something I’d sent out.

What is wrong with me? Why can’t I ever get things right? Lord, I’m so sorry.

Sorry for what? The gentle question rose in my spirit like a breeze.

I’m sorry I chose email over time with you. But even as I offered the thought to God in prayer, I knew that wasn’t true.

I stilled my mind and allowed the Spirit to search my heart.

I was sorry that my mistakes made me look bad. I was sorry that others might think less of me. 

I can’t do this writing thing anymore. I can’t put myself out there anymore. It’s too hard. Too humiliating. Too painful.

A dense fog descended over my spirit—its familiar presence acted as a gracious warning. The Spirit had unearthed the truth, and Jesus offered forgiveness. Would I accept?

Thank you, Lord. Again.

Perfectionism. It plagues me, especially as a writer.

As a visionary—a big-picture thinker—details escape me no matter how hard I work to wrangle the tiny tormentors, and that means I make mistakes. I am an optimist who thinks she can accomplish more than is reasonable, so I work fast, which also leads to mistakes. To top it off, I am also a perfectionist, though given my wiring and my human nature, I cannot attain perfection or anything close to it.

Daily, I fight a compulsion to reach for something I can never attain.

So, if this negative mindset plagues me, who am I to attempt to inspire or instruct others who are also plagued? I am an expert on the pitfalls of perfectionism.

If, as a writer, you struggle with perfectionism, you may recognize these pitfalls:

• Perfectionism leads to procrastination. The fear of failure makes it hard to complete a project.
• Perfectionism triggers paralysis. The extreme fear of failure makes it nearly impossible to begin a project.
• Perfectionism squelches creativity. The negative thought process that accompanies perfectionism stymies the hope inherent in creating.

Those are just a few of the pitfalls that a perfectionistic writer faces. When that writer is also a Christian, perfectionism can create feelings of distance or separation from God. Perfectionists often attempt to earn God’s love by performing for God, and, of course, that performance ultimately fails.

Failure may lead to shame, and shame keeps us from freely approaching Jesus, who paid with His own life to set us free.

So, what’s the answer? How do we overcome what holds us back?

We embrace excellence and shun perfectionism.

While that may sound simple, it requires intentional work that may include self-reflection, the healing of wounds, professional help, and a continual surrender to God, who offers His strength through our weakness.

Overcoming perfectionism may also require recognition of its source—it comes from the father of lies. He tempts us to strive for that which we can never attain.

It is the enemy who leads us to procrastination, to paralysis. He is the one who wants to squelch our creativity and stymie words that reveal the glory of God.

But… The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:4–5.

How do we overcome perfectionism?

We pick up the weapons that demolish negative mindsets.

And then we offer readers our best, imperfect work.