Monday Mindset: Letting Go of Perfectionism in Agility

I’ve realised something about myself through agility.

I don’t avoid training or competing because I don’t care enough.
I avoid it because I care too much.

Perfectionism shows up in agility as “waiting until we’re ready”.
Waiting until my handling is cleaner.
Waiting until my dog feels more consistent.
Waiting until I feel confident enough to deserve a go.

If I can’t run it well, I don’t want to run it at all.
If the session isn’t going to be productive, I’m tempted to skip it.
If I can’t picture a good round, I start talking myself out of entering.

And the problem is agility doesn’t work like that.

Perfectionism doesn’t create great agility teams.
Repetition, mistakes, feedback, and showing up on the bad days do.

Some of the biggest lessons I’ve learned haven’t come from perfect training sessions or clean rounds.
They’ve come from missed cues.
Late handling.
Dogs taking the option I didn’t plan for.
Walking out of the ring knowing I could’ve done better.

And every time I waited for things to feel “ready”, I delayed my own progress.

Because here’s the uncomfortable truth:

You don’t get better at agility by avoiding the messy stages.
You get better by training through them.

Lately, I’ve been practising letting go of perfectionism in my training.

Running sequences even when I know I’ll make mistakes.
Entering shows before everything feels nailed.
Allowing sessions to be average or even bad without deciding it means something about me or my dog.

Progress in agility isn’t linear.
Confidence isn’t something you wait for, it’s something you build by doing.

So this week, my focus isn’t perfect runs or flawless handling.
It’s presence.
It’s information.
It’s reps.

Because a “messy” session still teaches my dog something.
A scrappy round still gives me data.
And showing up consistently beats waiting for the perfect moment that never comes.

If you’ve been holding back from training, from competing, from putting yourself out there because you’re waiting to feel ready, this is your reminder:

You don’t need to be perfect to step into the ring.
You just need to show up.

The rest gets built along the way.