Last time in our blog ‘The Joy of Being a Perfectionist’, I talked about some of the many benefits a perfectionist approach can bring your career. But that’s not quite all the story. Perfectionism, when left unchecked, can actually prove to be quite a destructive force in your professional and personal life.
The root of the problem lies in the origin of perfectionism. At its heart, perfectionism is the belief that being perfect is possible, and perfectionists feel they can’t rest until they achieve this state. That, as you can imagine, is an exhausting way of being- particularly for those who are perfectionists in all areas of their life.
The desire to be perfect at things generally originates from a place of fear. Fear of failure or criticism can drive perfectionists to work incessantly- even damaging their health and personal relationships in the process.
Of course, many of us who consider ourselves perfectionists are not in this extreme category, and can control our perfectionist streak and use it to our advantage. This is called ‘adaptive perfectionism’, while the more serious form is called ‘maladaptive perfectionism’.
Whichever form perfectionism takes, there are some interesting downsides that need to be controlled in order to perform well at work.
The downsides to being a perfectionist
Some perfectionists can get so bogged down in making one detail perfect, that they can end up struggling to deliver the rest of the project. Severe perfectionists often struggle ‘seeing the wood for the trees’.
Sometimes in their penchant for including all possible detail, perfectionists muddy the situation. Imagine if your boss asks for a quick brief on a particular cross team project, and the perfectionists compiles a 5 page report that the boss doesn’t have time to read, and didn’t need anyway. The perfectionist has wasted both the boss’ time and their own time.
Perfectionists fear failure so much that they never allow themselves to fail, meaning that they shy away from growth opportunities and never stray out of their comfort zones. This can cause career stagnation and a lack of personal growth.
Perfectionism often stifles creativity and clear thinking. Because perfectionists are generally motivated by the fear of failure, their minds are in a stress-state, making solutions more difficult to come up with; recognising any patterns in your own behaviour?
Perfectionists procrastinate. Odd, isn’t it that someone striving for perfection would put off the task in such a way that will eventually sabotage their ability to make it perfect? Perfectionists make small tasks into huge ones, to the point where the idea of making such a thing perfect becomes too overwhelming to even begin.
Perfectionists often obsess over their flaws, beating themselves up when something doesn’t go right. For a maladaptive perfectionist, each mistake is a deep crisis. So is there a magic pill or at least some strategies you can implement to gain some relief? Yes, read on….
How to tame your destructive perfectionism into something more manageable
Break all tasks into small pieces, and assign a time each one should take. When you reach that time allocation, move on. You can come back if you need to.
In the same vein, perfectionists should teach themselves the 80/20 rule. This is based on the idea that we get 80% of the work done in 20% of the time, and that the last 20% of output takes an extraordinary 80% of our time!
This is the downfall of perfectionists, who fuss endlessly trying to make the last 20% perfect. Learn to get to 80%, and move onto the next task.
Learn to prioritise better. Assess when something needs your incredible detail skills, and when it is simply a small task that should take a few moments.
Write down a ‘to not do’ list. Put all the things you know you struggle with and lose time on and stick them huge on your wall by your desk.
Sometimes, mistakes are actually the breakthroughs to improvement. Allow the possibility of failing into your life.
Perfectionism can be a wonderful trait when it’s focussed on the right goals. If you can channel your perfectionist streak, remove the fear of external criticism and instead use the goal of perfection to improve yourself for your own sake, then you’ll even manage to be perfect at perfectionism.
Until next time
Julia
