Is wanting things to be perfect such a bad thing? After all, perfection can lead to success, achieving your goals, and overall getting what you want. Although you may believe this is true, perfectionism can do more harm than good.
Keep reading to learn the good and bad sides of perfectionism and how you can utilize the focus on being perfect to help you succeed.
What Is Perfectionism?
According to Psychology Today, perfectionism has two sides. One side can leave you overworked and stressed by working non-stop to live up to an impossible standard of perfection. Perfectionism has you believe that everything has to be perfect or it’s not good enough. However, internalizing this statement can mean if it’s not perfect, you’re not good enough.
Yet, with the right dosage of perfectionism, it can help you overcome challenges and reach a higher level of success.
Cons Of Perfectionism
When untapped, perfectionism can lead to an array of problems.
Steals your happiness: Robbing you of a sense of accomplishment and happiness is one of the biggest disadvantages of perfectionism For example, say you’re a dancer, and you finished a performance that received a standing ovation. After the end of your show, instead of embracing the applause from the crowd, all you can think about is how you were one second off on your turns.
Leads to negative behaviors: Perfectionism is not only a desire to obtain this illogical sense of perfection, it’s also an intense fear of failure. Say you have to write an essay to win a scholarship. A perfectionist thought tells you that you were never a strong writer and that your essay will be less than perfect, so you put off writing it because you know it won’t be perfect. Then the contest finishes, and the contest winner is revealed; you realize you probably could have written an essay that was just as good.
Can lead to burnout: With perfectionism, there is a need to over-excel, to do more than expected to prove that you are good enough, or to achieve the idea of being perfect. Perfectionism can make you feel like you’re running on a hamster wheel. You may think you’re making progress, but you’re becoming stressed, overworked, and burnt out.
Pros Of Perfectionism
Perfectionism isn’t all bad. With a modified viewpoint of perfectionism, known as adaptive or positive perfectionism, you can be achievement-oriented and focus on challenges that help you to grow. When your desire to achieve above the norm helps to you move forward instead of backgrounds, then you’ve reached a new level of growth.
Is wanting things to be perfect such a bad thing? After all, perfection can lead to success, achieving your goals, and overall getting what you want. Although you may believe this is true, perfectionism can do more harm than good.
How To Know If You’re A Perfectionist
You’ve probably caught yourself saying that you want things to be perfect. But does that mean you’re a perfectionist? Reflect on the following questions will give you a clearer point of view.
- Are you highly critical of yourself and others? Offering feedback and general critics can be motivating and helpful. Yet, your perfectionism might be showing if you give more negative critiques than positive feedback.
- Are you enjoying the process of achieving your goals, or are you only focused on the outcome? Suppose you’re only satisfied when you finish and aren’t congratulating yourself after each milestone you hit. In that case, chances are you’re a perfectionist.
- Are you afraid of failure? Have you been procrastinating on a project because you worry it won’t be perfect, so would you rather not start on it? Being led by fear is a prevalent trait of perfectionism.
- Are you unsatisfied with your accomplishments? Think to yourself, when did you feel truly proud of an accomplishment? Does achieving your goals feel like an empty win? Often, the unrealistic standards that perfectionists set for themselves make them feel like no matter what they do, it’s never good enough.
How To Manage Your Perfectionism
According to an article in the Washington Post, the better alternative is striving for excellencism instead of pursuing perfectionism as your key to success.
What Is Excellencism?
A term coined by Patrick Gaudreau, professor of psychology at the University of Ottawa, emphasizes striving for greatness, focusing on succeeding but not beating yourself up when things don’t turn out as well as you’d hoped. It’s about learning from your experiences and mistakes and taking failures not as a personal hit to your ego but as an opportunity to learn and grow.
Other ways to manage your perfectionism include:
- Focus on how you can improve instead of what you did wrong.
- Consider multiple outcomes of your success. Will a promotion help you look better in front of your coworkers, or will it allow you to do more for the company while improving your lifestyle?
- Give yourself grace. Mistakes don’t define who you are. It’s far more impressive to grow from a mistake than to try to avoid making one.
