What Soul-Searching Perfectionists Can Learn From A Serial Risk-Taker

I just stumbled upon an inspiring piece by fellow Glassbreaker Maria Molfino, and I hereby declare it required reading for the gusty-minded.Molfino explains how a thirst for knowledge led her to make bold career decisions and, through the process of elimination, create a life that plays to her strengths while also being fulfilling. One by one, she systematically scratched jobs off the list: nonprofit researcher, lab worker at Stanford Medical School, activist trying to help women in the sex trade.Each job change began with a question followed by a statement: "I want to learn about that." With each experiment, she learned more about her interests and deal-breakers. And while her process was ultimately fruitful, she writes that she could have been gentler with herself:

What I wish someone had told me when I was having those breakdowns and anxiety attacks about "my purpose in life" at every moment of uncertainty, transition, and pivot: It's all about course-correction. You're going through a self-sculpting process.

Like many women who've set high expectations for themselves, her desire for perfection actually hampered her progress. "I hadn't given myself the permission to be that lean, exploratory and experimental because 'I had to make money' and I felt ashamed for not having 'figured it all out yet,' " she writes.Sound familiar to you, too?Urging women to undergo their own "self-sculpting," Molfino echoes a refrain that's dear to Gutsy Broads' heart:

"You don't find the path, you create it. And part of the creative process is risk-taking, making mistakes, learning, and course-correcting."

Amen, sister.Source: Glassbreakers