The Pursuit of Perfectionism Is Sabotaging Your Work
And taking the joy out of it
“Perfectionism spells paralysis.” — Winston Churchill
It has been days since you’ve been trying to write something, but all you’ve managed to do is stare at the blank screen in front of you. You come up with ideas but end up dismissing those as unoriginal.
You can’t write what everybody else is writing about; you keep reminding yourself.
Why? Because you don’t want to produce mediocre work. You are looking for perfection.
It all sounds too familiar.
I’ve been there, faced it all, and I’ve come to a conclusion. The idea of perfection is an illusion that holds us back from progress, achievement, and happiness.
And it’s not just about work but our lives as well. How often do we strive to be perfect because we find it desirable? But we forget that nothing can be or stay perfect forever.
As Leo Tolstoy says,
“If you look for perfection, you’ll never be content.”
― Anna Karenina
The Idea of Perfectionism
Perfectionism, in psychology, is a broad personality style characterized by a person’s concern with striving for flawlessness and perfection. It is usually accompanied by critical self-evaluations and concerns regarding others’ opinions of oneself.
Researchers have divided perfectionism into two types, adaptive and maladaptive.
Adaptive perfectionism is where a person sets high expectations for oneself but does not resort to criticism if those standards and goals are not achieved.
Maladaptive perfectionism is when an individual sets high personal standards and resorts to extreme self-criticism in case of failure.
Some scholars think adaptive perfectionism is healthy and leads to higher levels of motivation and conscientiousness.
Others believe perfectionism should not be classified as beneficial as it is linked with low self-esteem, eating disorders, and psychological disorders such as anxiety, depression, stress, and self-harm.
Researchers suggest a fine line between perfectionism and the pursuit of excellence. Working hard and pushing oneself to achieve goals might signify dedication, not necessarily perfectionism.
In most cases, perfectionism stems from performance anxiety and self-esteem issues.
A research professor at the University of Houston, author Brené Brown talks about perfectionism and hard work in her book, “The Gifts of Imperfection”:
“Understanding the difference between healthy striving and perfectionism is critical to laying down the shield and picking up your life. Research shows that perfectionism hampers success. In fact, it’s often the path to depression, anxiety, addiction, and life paralysis.”
“Healthy striving is self-focused: “How can I improve?” Perfectionism is other-focused: “What will they think?”
The Drawbacks of Perfectionism
Once you fall into the pitfall of perfectionism, you’ll live a miserable life. It sabotages everything — your life, work, relationships.
Some of the most common drawbacks of seeking perfectionism include:
- It makes you highly self-critical, and you engage in negative self-talk. You blame yourself for not living up to your unrealistic standards.
“Perfectionism rarely begets perfection, or satisfaction — only disappointment.” — Ryan Holiday
- You procrastinate — more than you realize. You tend to adopt all-or-nothing thinking and wait for the perfect time, idea, or opportunity.
“If I waited for perfection, I would never write a word.” — Margaret Atwood
- It hinders your productivity and creativity. The unnecessary pressure and fear of failure or judgment reduce your willingness to take risks and be creative.
- Time management becomes a problem. Starting a project takes forever because you want everything to be perfect. You dwell on trivial things which would be inconsequential in the long run, as you fail to see the bigger picture.
- The undue pressure, stress, and anxiety will affect your health.
Anne Lamott perfectly sums up the problem with perfectionism in her book “Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life,”
“Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life, and it is the main obstacle between you and a shitty first draft. I think perfectionism is based on the obsessive belief that if you run carefully enough, hitting each stepping-stone just right, you won’t have to die. The truth is that you will die anyway and that a lot of people who aren’t even looking at their feet are going to do a whole lot better than you, and have a lot more fun while they’re doing it.”
Ways to Deal With It
No matter how tempted you might be to stick with your perfectionistic tendencies, considering them as a positive trait, the fact remains those do you more harm than you might think.
It might seem complicated, but one can learn to manage perfectionism with consistent efforts and motivation. Here are some ways that can help:
- Analyze your behavior and try to do a cost-benefit analysis. Identify how perfectionistic traits are hurting you concerning your time and productivity.
- Distract yourself when you feel you’re falling into the cycle of rumination. Learn to focus on the positives and consciously reflect on your progress rather than failures.
- Adjust your unrealistic standards and expectations — you’ve probably set them so high that there’s little or no chance of achieving them.
- Make a checklist of what needs to be done and focus on that. The perfectionist in you might worry about every minute detail, but a list will help you stay on track.
- Don’t succumb to the fear of failure; learn to handle criticism. Constructive criticism will help you improve your performance and productivity.
The Bottom Line
Don’t fall into the vicious trap of perfectionism. Relax and go with the flow. Getting things done is more important than trying to make things perfect. Sometimes just finishing a task is a worthy achievement.
As Rebecca Wells puts it,
“Good enough is good enough. Perfect will make you a big fat mess every time.”
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