Have you ever heard of the ’Yeah But’ Syndrome? Probably not, since I just made it up. But let me explain what I mean by that.

Are you one of those people who finds it hard to take joy in small (or big) successes? Here’s what I mean: ’I just sold a painting..... but it was to a friend’; ’I had a show this weekend and I sold 2 paintings..... but they were just unframed ones’; ’I won an award .... but that’s only because Mary-Jane didn’t enter any paintings this time’.

Can you see where I’m going with this? Instead of taking pleasure in success and feeling a well-earned sense of pride, I go and spoil it by saying ’yeah but..’ followed by some reason why it doesn’t count.

Successes are hard enough to come by, why would anyone want to do that? Why are we not eager to acknowledge our successes and pat ourselves on the back? We are a lot faster at berating ourselves for our failures than we are at acknowledging our successes.

I know that we want to be objective about our work. We look with a critical eye at what we’ve done; we want it to be perfect. We want to continue to improve, we want to achieve excellence. Those are all good reasons for being somewhat critical. However, let’s remember that there is no such thing as perfection. Nothing is ever perfect. Perfection is something we strive for but will probably never achieve. So what’s wrong with recognizing our improvements, our step-forwards on the way to perfection?

We need to learn to recognize and acknowledge our successes. We have the right to feel pride when something we’ve been working on is successful, or when we have improved and our work is getting better. Success is success, no buts about it. To diminish our successes with a ’yeah but...’ is self-deprecating. If we can’t be proud of our work, of ourselves and of our successes, who else will be? Nobody.

Besides, it’s a kind of ’positive thinking’ thing. Acknowledging our growth keeps us feeling good about ourselves and our work. The opposite will only discourage us and lead us to give up. And that would be a shame.

Suzette

Seeking perfection is a waste of a lifetime. Striving for perfection is a lifetime goal, never to be achieved. (Rick Rotante)

It is the imperfections in life that make it amusing and lovable. The imperfections of the world and its people add interest, and invoke curiosity, and humor. How boring would a perfect life be? (Cathy Harville)