After a busy week there’s nothing I like better than to spend Sunday afternoon munching popcorn and catching a movie with the fam.  We love watching all types of movies and aren’t embarrassed to attend “cartoon” movies even though none of us are in pre-school!

One of our favorites is “The Incredibles” which is a movie about a family of undercover superheroes who are trying to blend in to their quiet suburban life.  Ultimately, they become bored with their less than super life and just can’t resist getting involved when a new super villain, Syndrome, tries to take over the world.  But wait… what’s a good movie without a wardrobe malfunction?  Mr. Incredible’s superhero suit has a hole in it and so he makes a visit to super designer Edna Mode for a quick fix. (Side note: Edna is clearly my favorite character in the movie because she’s so obviously based on legendary film costume designer Edith Head – complete with black round-rim glasses and china doll bangs).

Edna tosses the old super suit aside with disdain and explains that Mr. Incredible needs a new and improved suit.  She shares her vision for the suit, but Mr. Incredible insists that in order for his new suit to be perfect, it needs a cape.  Edna sharply exclaims, “No cape!” and goes on to list the number of superheroes who had capes only to find that the cape ultimately got in the way of doing their job.

So often when we’re trying to achieve a goal we have our own vision of what “perfect” is and find it hard to take advice from experts – even those experts who we know are the best in their field.  We try to rationalize why we shouldn’t do it “their way” and adopt the recommendations half-heartedly or ignore the advice completely and push forward “our way”.  If I’ve learned anything in life, it’s that there’s no way I can be an expert in everything.  I’ve learned to work within my “gifts” and to look to others working within their “gifts” for helpful advice and coaching.  As EBQs we often find ourselves trying to do everything perfectly and it’s that phrase, “everything perfectly”, that is actually getting in our way.  In order to fully develop your own personal gifts you’ve got to be willing to let go and let others share their gifts with you.

And just in case you’re wondering, Edna does design new super suits, without capes, for all The Incredibles.  The movie ends (spoiler warning!) as super villain Syndrome gets sucked into a jet engine by his cape.  So next time you’re overly focused on being perfect and you’re insisting on doing everything yourself, remember that that way of thinking is just like a super cape – it may sound like a good idea at the time, but it’s going to get in the way your success!