How Perfectionism Hurts Your Career

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Robtyd54 of KY 7:40PM April 26, 2013

I am a perfectionist and when given a piece of white paper, I notice the few black dots before I see the rest of the white paper. Yes, as a boss, I soon realize that I was a pain in the neck. I learned in a hard way that people hated me and did not appreciate the perfect and out standing work I do.

Now I consciously stop at 80% and congratulate myself that I have done enough. Leave the rest to God and demi-gods who will never do a good piece of work. In Annaegram speak, perfectionist personality are the Number 1. Bosses must recognize perfectionists are excellent project managers, and should be protected somewhat from themselves. Complete your job and leave and do not let others target and arrow you out of jealousy and incompetency.

tsu soo sin 9:00PM January 30, 2011

that perfection bug can bite & clamp down hard....I've had such difficulty over the years keeping it in check....

Seems to require paying attention to see when it's trying to creep in....

Danushka Rose of WA 2:25PM January 27, 2011

Working for a perfectionist is the worst. You feel like you are spinning your wheels in sand. Nothing will ever be good enough to advance and you keep doing the same damn things over and over and over and over. This is especially infuriating in areas where it does not matter much....like an address label to one of your vendors. Who cares if it is not "perfectly" centered.

Needless to say, I quit that job. And in instances where a mistake might matter (like a minor data entry error), someone down the road will catch it. All you do is fix it. And that takes much less time than spending your entire day redoing the same things over and over to catch that tiny mistake.

These types of OCD perfectionists should all be shot and fired.

Pigbitin Mad of NY 5:51PM January 26, 2011

Great point, Mariam. Thanks for adding it to the mix. There are some things we do where perfection really is necessary, or at least highly desirable. The key is identifying when it's really needed, and when unrealistic and/or unnecessary perfectionism is rearing its head.

Curt Rosengren of WA 12:05PM January 25, 2011

you're so right! Perfectionism is definitely hard and unreasonable primarily because you also ten to become unrealistic about time deadlines then! And the core objective to achieve especially in client servicing jobs is balancing deliverable quality and time: perfectionism tends to ruin both. I think perfectionism should also be smartly delegated: apportion it for tasks that are most important and save the rest for other important tasks in future. This way, we won't be hurting our own self-belief and neither setting the receiver's expectations too high!

Mariam Rafique 10:27AM January 25, 2011

Lucy, you're right. Mediocre is anything but inspiring, and ultimately it becomes a big energy drain.

I'm definitely not suggesting mediocrity. In fact, seeing mediocrity as the alternative to perfection is exactly what I encourage people to avoid. It's possible to attain excellence without the unrealistic expectation of perfection.

One way I think of it is in terms of percentages. Perfection is 100%. To the uber-perfectionist view, anything short of that is flawed. "This could have been better" or "I screwed that part up." That doesn't leave any room for being happy with, for example, 95%.

The hyper-perfectionist tends to see the 5% lack, not the 95%, and they will blow that 5% out of proportion. They will either put more energy and effort into trying to close that gap than is needed, beat themselves up for not doing a good enough job, or both.

Perhaps a good way to describe the goal is "sustainable excellence." Sustainable excellence doesn't leave you feeling depleted. It leaves you feeling good about your accomplishment, rather than not quite measuring up. And it acknowledges the fact that all of life is a balancing act, and it's impossible to give 100% to everything at all times.

Curt Rosengren of WA 8:48PM January 22, 2011

I think the point you are trying to make is that perfection while dealing with reality is something you can achieve that will also provide satisfaction.

There is satisfaction in doing a good job.

Doing mediocre is not really inspiring.

Lucy of MA 2:21PM January 22, 2011

Great! Glad this is giving you a helpful bump in the right direction, Jara.

Curt Rosengren of WA 8:01PM January 20, 2011

I suffer from perfectionism and it has torpedoed many a career opportunity. I'm in the process of recovery, though, so this article is right on time. Thank you. :)

Jara of CA 4:31PM January 20, 2011

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