The Joy of Achievement (Without the Pain of Perfectionism) In-Person Event

About this event

In 2026, The WIMDI Speaker Series is inviting engaging speakers each month to give interactive talks on topics that help women kill it at work. Missed a WIMDI webinar live? Subscribe and catch-up at [WIMDIs YouTube Channel](https://www.youtube.com/@helloWIMDI?sub_confirmation=1 "https://www.youtube.com/@helloWIMDI?sub_confirmation=1")

Welcome to Talk 9 of 13 - The Joy of Achievement (Without the Pain of Perfectionism)

You’ve finally reached the moment of truth. You take a last glance over your PowerPoint and realize you’ve achieved that most elusive of workplace victories: a pixel-perfect doc that doesn’t need any edits. This only happens once in every 100,000 working hours, and your hard work and dedication have finally landed you the big prize. Woo hoo!

Your boss throws you a ticker-tape parade. Mensa certifies you as a workplace genius (a new category they created in your honour!). Beyonce DMs you to ask how you managed to produce something even more profound than *Lemonade*. It’s good to be on top!

But let’s not talk about what it took to get here. The many late nights at the office. The anxiety-ridden sleepless nights. The irritable exchanges with your partner and kids when you had nothing left to give. The debates with your therapist about ‘*What is perfectionism really, though? And could it be so bad if it’s the main thing that fuels all of your professional success?’*

If only there was a way to get widespread cultural renown (or heck, just your boss’ attention for your next promotion) *without* working yourself into a pulp or running 24/7 critical commentary in your head!

This talk will focus on the intense mental load perfectionism takes – and how you can strive for excellence without overwhelming yourself. We’ll cover:

• How perfectionism wreaks havoc in your personal & professional life • The unexpected professional upsides of perfectionism • How healthy striving can let you have your high-achieving cake and eat it too • An internal audit of the factors in your life that compel to push yourself beyond your limits

The goal of this talk is to help you find actionable strategies to get some breathing space while still achieving at a high level. ------------- [Elana Sures](https://www.linkedin.com/in/elanasures/)

Elana Sures is a therapist and owner of [Open Space Counselling](http://openspacecounselling.ca/), a clinic providing in person and virtual therapy with locations in Vancouver and North Vancouver. Under Elana’s vision and mentorship, Open Space Counselling focuses on helping women learn to strive and thrive without succumbing to self-criticism and burnout. This mission has helped thousands of women, partners and mothers find more presence, connection, and meaning in their lives.

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Event Timeline

5:30 pm – Networking & Icebreakers The event starts with mingling, socializing, and small-group networking. 6:00 pm – Talk Begins The talk starts! Get out your notepad and prepare to soak up some knowledge. 7:00 pm – Q&A Ask any burning questions you have for our speaker! 7:30 pm – The End of the Night! We’ll exchange cards, phone numbers, facepages, myfriend accounts, tweetster, instapics, snaptexts, tictaks, or whatever it is that the kids are using these days to stay in touch – and then head home!

Location

Where The Event Is We're meeting on a rooftop event space in Downtown Vancouver at the corner of Hastings & Seymour ([601 W Hasting St](https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZMNRMhELr5kcppHe6)).

See A Virtual Preview of The Event Space: We've got a [virtual preview video](https://youtu.be/ydLp1miR0TI) of our event location, so you can see exactly what to expect in terms of how to enter the event location, accessibility of pathways, and accessible washrooms locations.

Sponsor

Thank you to [Spare](https://spare.com/), a wonderful local tech company, for hosting us in their office space!

Attendance Notes

1) Gender: This event is open to individuals of any gender identity.

2)…