Striving for Perfection: The Double-Edged Sword of Excellence
Unveiling the Benefits and Pitfalls of Pursuing Perfection in Your Life
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How many times have you obsessed about this before? Imagine that you are working on a project. Everything seems to be going well and you get the final draft done. Just as you look through it one more time, you notice that you made a mistake. No problem, you correct the problem and are done. That’s when you realize that there are more mistakes, and it starts to appear everywhere. So what do you do? Rather than taking the time to correct all of them, you decide to trash the project, because it’s not perfect.
If you have done this before, even when it comes to homework assignments, or working on an article, you are not alone. Many people around the world struggle with perfection throughout their lifetime. But what is perfection? And what is it that makes so many people delay when it comes to assignments?
What is Perfectionism?
To give a quick explanation, perfectionism is the condition, state, or quality of being free or as free as possible from all flaws or defects. It's the thing that all people pursue, it does not discriminate. It hits people of all races, genders, ages.
What is it that makes people pursue perfection? There are many reasons why.
Being competitive
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Let’s be honest here. While not all humans choose to be competitive, there are, however, some out there who choose to be competitive. While this can be seen in sports and in the academic world, it is also seen within the business world as well. This can be due to wanting to get a high-paying job or getting accepted to a college that is difficult to get into.
An Individual’s personal goals or ambitions
Another reason is that the person can set high standards for themselves. This can range from personal goals to ambitions that the person is passionate about. This can range from careers to creative pursuits. It is often these two that are often a motivating factor when it comes to perfection.
Cultural background
Depending on the culture, and how you were raised. This can often be a factor as well. Perhaps you were born in a competitive family, and perfection was something that you all aimed for, whether it be for work, school, or sports that you participated in. It was something that you aimed for when it came to your job, your craft, or the sport that you were in.
Personality
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There are going to be people whose personality is always going to be competitive. To them that is their life. To aim for perfection in each area of their life. To become perfect is to achieve the ultimate goal for them.
While perfectionism is something that everyone attempts to aim for, there is a dark side to this. This is a quote from Voltaire that mentions perfection
Perfect is the enemy of good. - Voltaire
Let’s explain this a bit more. While perfectionism is admirable in some situations, it is something that is not necessary. Sometimes it’s not beneficial.
So what is it that makes perfection a problem in the long run? Here are some reasons for what can happen with perfection.
The impact on relationships
It’s interesting to add this one since you would think that there would be no issue with this. However, when you start attempting to make things perfect in the relationship, it can cause a strain. While you may have an idea of what perfection should look like, your partner may not have the same idea of what perfect is. This can lead to arguments, miscommunication, or worse, cause a divide in the relationship.
Mental Health
This can take a toll on the individual's mental health. This can result in
Increased stress and anxiety
Increased depression
Burnout
Negative self-image
These are a list of some of the consequences that can happen mentally. It also doesn’t help when you have depression and anxiety before, and then add this to it, and it makes a cocktail from hell.
Physical Health
Over time, this can also cause issues such as headaches, lack of sleep, and gastrointestinal issues such as
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD)
Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)
While it's not known if perfection can cause these issues, the stress from it can cause these issues to appear and make things worse if the person has these issues.
Society’s expectations
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Society tends to put a lot of emphasis on having not only a flawless performance but appearance as well. It also doesn’t help when social media adds peer pressure, this can range from Television, Movies, and Magazines. Most times social media often portray flawless images of people and lifestyles which adds more pressure on the person.
If this is all going on, then why do so many people have a difficult time when it comes to saying no to perfection? Well, there are plenty of reasons actually.
The fear of failure
Believe it or not, people are often fearful of failure since it will make people look like they are not as valuable when it comes to others. This can create a mindset where if somebody fails, that’s it. There is no point in continuing.
Seeking validation through perfection
This is also common within perfection, by getting things perfect, they have something to show off and as a result, it makes the person think that it will help validate them and get approval from their loved ones.
Seeing Perfection as a virtue.
Most people will see perfection as a virtue, when in reality it is more of a tendency or mindset to attempt to achieve unobtainable standards. In some cases, people may confuse perfection with excellence. While there is nothing wrong with excellence, it requires you to make realistic and achievable goals.
Honestly, I used to strive for perfection big time. While this wasn't the case when it came to homework assignments, with my writing, I always wanted my writing to be perfect before I posted it. Sometimes, I would end up redoing it, taking much longer than needed to get it done. Even though I would set deadlines, I felt like it wasn't enough. I kept doing this for years until I started to burn out.
I ended up losing my motivation for writing, and I stopped. I couldn’t stand sitting down and writing. Even as doing something simple as journaling felt like it was torture. It took me at least a few years to recover from it. Over time, I started to get back into writing. It was a slow process, but the difference was that I stopped worrying about it being perfect.
What can you do to make sure that we don’t constantly worry about perfection? There are a few things that can be done.
Embracing good enough
Sometimes you need to realize that it’s good enough. It’s not worth it to get the stress levels high. While this can be difficult to do at first, as you do this more, it will get easier in time.
Set realistic goals.
While it’s often taught that you should aim for the clouds when it comes to goals, you should also be realistic. In reality, some goals will take more than a month to achieve, depending on what you are aiming for. To make these goals easier to do, break them down into smaller steps. It will make your goals a bit easier to achieve.
Recognizing where perfection came from and the roots
Perfection isn’t something that happens overnight. There are multiple factors on how a person starts becoming obsessed with perfection. This can range from how you were raised, to the friends that you surround yourself with, and other factors as well. If you do start seeing signs of perfection, stop. Take a deep breath. Understand that it’s okay to not be perfect.
Finding a balance between excellence and accepting imperfections
We all strive for excellence, but at the same time, we must also accept our imperfections. Our imperfections are what makes us unique in this world, and to be perfect would be boring if you took the time to think about it. Do your best, but also embrace your imperfections.
While perfection is something that something that is always pursued. It’s important to realize to not worry about perfection in the long run. You will be able to live life better by not worrying about perfection.