Hello, good folks. Today we’re going to talk about something that’s helped me – err, IS helping me – move beyond perfectionism. And it’s called The Upgrade. It falls totally in line with the ideas of do it just good enough, do it bad, do it wrong, just get started, etc. I guess I just like the word “upgrade” because it’s so simple, and it has a nice ring to it. It popped in my head a year or two when I was forcing myself to clean and de-clutter my house. And when “upgrade” landed, I was so happy. I didn’t have to do anything perfectly or completely, just keep upgrading! And a small upgrade is still an upgrade. And I got so much more done.
So what does this look like? And I really hope you find my little idiosyncrasies funny, as well as how I get so excited about these seemingly small things. Because they add up to life-changing stuff, they really do. So the upgrade… Let’s say I’m at home and I see a pile of clutter on the counter. I used to leave it there for literally months at a time because I didn’t want to deal with it. But what I didn’t want to deal with was the WHOLE THING. When I learned The Upgrade, however, everything changed. It probably started when I saw one thing in the pile that really should be in my bedroom or in the bathroom; clearly not in the living room. We’re talking about the super low-hanging fruit. I mean, it was so obvious that it called out to me (if you read the last post about the cell phone apps on the home screen, apparently lots of things call out to me). So I grabbed that item and simply put it on the dresser in my bedroom, which is near the bathroom as well. Let’s not kid ourselves… it’s not at all where it’ll eventually be. But it’s closer. And I thought wow, I just upgraded the hell out of that! And I started LOL-ing. And The Upgrade was born.
So I got to looking around to see what else could be upgraded. And progress started to be made, constantly. And that pile on counter started to shrink, until I finally dealt with the final holdouts until it was gone. But that was only after many smaller upgrades. And I felt good about the process the whole time. When I upgrade something now, even if it’s super small, I smile and sort of high-five the air. I might even say “Boom!” or “Bam!” out loud. By myself at my house. It really pumps me up! And this only leads to more upgrading. And lots of little upgrades build momentum, eventually leading to major change.
Has your email inbox ever gotten unruly? I’m sure I’m the only one… What if you were to just delete five or ten emails? Upgrade! Because that’s five or ten emails that you don’t have to delete later. Go for the super easy and obvious ones – most people have plenty of those lying around their inbox. It’ll lead to more and more. What if you have lots of clothes to clean out of your closet, to either give away or to throw away, depending on the condition? It feels like a big job, and one you don’t want to tackle. And you keep not doing it. And you keep not doing it. And you keep not doing it. Well, don’t worry about the whole thing, folks, just go for the low hanging fruit that you CLEARLY don’t want or need anymore! And it could be one piece of clothing. I’m serious, that’s an upgrade. It’s moving in the direction you want – that’s the whole point. Plus, you get to high-five the air and yell, “Boom!” So fun.
Note… Two days ago, I took an old tux shirt and a jacket I haven’t work in five years to goodwill. Just two small items, and it felt great. Bye-bye. I saw them in my closet and said nope, you’re coming out. So I put them on the chair by my door. That was an upgrade (the car would’ve been even better, but it’s always just steps in the right direction; and the closet is the worst place they could have been, like some black hole). A day or two later, I got tired of looking at them on the chair, so I grabbed them and took them with me to work in the morning. There’s a goodwill on there way, so I pulled in, dropped them off into the dropbox in the parking lot, and kept rolling. Bam!
It’s the same thing for an unruly computer desktop or anything, really. How about all the unused apps or pics on your phone? Delete one. And feel GOOD about this, because you’re upgrading! You’re moving in the right direction, which is exactly what you want. Your car trunk… put one thing in a better place (which is often the trash). Just. Keep. Moving. After a while, the momentum picks up and you’re feeling amazing while you’re kicking ass at the same time. And there’s no pressure on yourself, no rules about doing it right, doing it perfectly, or doing it to completion. Just keep upgrading. In fact, see how tiny of an upgrade you can do. And again, when you do even one tiny upgrade, say it out loud – “I just upgraded the hell out of that! Yay me! Boom!” Can you imagine yourself prancing about the house or office doing that? It’s so fun.
And get this, the smaller the upgrade, the funnier it is. And the better you feel. And here’s the thing… the more your rules about how things should be are lovingly dissolved. This is literally moving you towards more self-love, in its seemingly small and innocent and hilarious way. Read that again, because it’s true, it really is. Even something as ridiculous and minor as The Upgrade is moving you towards loving yourself more, not less. That’s what all of these posts are designed to do, actually. And they all build on each other. So amazing.
So there we go, folks, The Upgrade! I hope you like it, and I hope you enjoy implementing it in your life. Pressure. Free. Zone. I mean, it’s just an upgrade, right? So, happy upgrading, and I totally wish I could be a fly on the wall when you’re home alone, high-fiving the air and yelling, “Boom!” Enjoy 🙂