The hidden side of Perfectionism (part 1/3)

Is Perfectionism a Strength or a Weakness? As a perfectionist, in this three parts article, I’ll try to provide some of my own experiences and learnings on perfectionism. Striving for perfection is a double-edged sword. It is a quality that can help achieve great results, but often we underestimate its costs. For a perfectionist, it is often difficult to discern the boundaries between doing a very good job and pursuing perfection. What is the ceiling for perfection? 

The pursuit of perfection is often influenced by a combination of personal evaluation, organisational skills (dedicating the necessary time for a task), and the task's deadline. It can also be influenced by the expectations of the recipient of your work or the confidence you have in your skills. Determining when a piece of work is considered "done" greatly depends on the context in which it is realised, but ultimately, it is a personal decision. It took me a considerable amount of time to learn that I need to find a balance between the results I want to achieve and the context in which I am working.

I am a perfectionist. I always strive to provide my best and have high expectations for the work I deliver. I am even more perfectionistic (here I clearly acknowledge that perfection has no ceiling) when I have a benchmark. For example, if I submit an application or a contribution and it gets rejected, I take the feedback and incorporate my learnings into the next deliverable. This example illustrates that perfection has no real limit; it is a constantly moving target. I know that my work is highly appreciated and often exceeds the expectations of those who assign me tasks. Perfectionism has brought me a great deal of satisfaction and continues to yield positive results. However, there is another side to the coin…

I have learned that the more energy I invest in something, the higher the level of frustration when it is rejected. Sometimes perfectionism can be even more insidious, as it can sabotage your own work. For instance, we recently submitted an offer for a tender, and unfortunately, it was disqualified because it arrived 10 minutes late. We had spent over a month working on it. It wasn't our first bid, and we had started early enough to deliver an excellent proposal. We sat down and analyzed the situation to understand what went wrong. We concluded that we could have completed it in almost half the time if we hadn't been excessively perfectionistic. We immediately applied this new approach to the next tender, which we completed in just two weeks of work, and we won the contest!

Another risk of perfectionism is the expectations you may have regarding someone else's work. If you are a manager, your perfectionism can frustrate and intimidate those who need to deliver their work to you. If you do not adapt your evaluation criteria, you will end up with a lot of dissatisfied people around you, and you may become dissatisfied yourself.

As with other qualities you may possess, perfectionism can backfire and have negative consequences. In such cases, it is beneficial to take a step back. While perfectionism has helped me achieve a lot, many times I have paid a high price for it. I even experienced burnout at one point. By examining my perfectionism from different perspectives, I learned that the definition of perfection varies greatly among individuals. It may seem obvious, but it took me a while to realize it on my own. I had to ask myself, "How can I utilize my perfectionism in a different way?" I eventually found one answer by employing a well-known process: iteration. Iterating on work offers several advantages:

1. It allows you to establish boundaries and determine when to stop refining your work (e.g., after 2-3 iterations) or when the deadline dictates.

2. It ensures that you will deliver something, regardless of whether it is deemed "perfect" or not.

3. If you are supervising someone else's work, you can guide them step-by-step towards your desired output quality.

4. If you are producing work for someone else, you can understand their expectations and adjust your output accordingly.

Iterative work avoids lengthy and conditional explanations that may confuse those tasked with producing results. It also helps prevent frustration by limiting the number of iterations. It enables you and others to better understand each other's working processes.

Now, shifting focus away from work, because as a perfectionist, you likely strive for perfection in other aspects of your life. At least, that is the case for me. As long as I have the energy and focus, I tend to pursue perfection in various areas. However, it is essential to remember that the concept of perfection is subjective and closely tied to one's knowledge. This understanding makes it clear that perfection in any area of life is a continuously moving target. At this point, I started asking myself: Who am I striving for perfection for? Myself or others? Should I abandon perfectionism altogether or approach it differently?

I attempt to answer these questions in part two of this article which you can find here. Meanwhile, you might want to reflect on them and try to understand how perfectionism impacts your day-to-day and for whom you are being perfect. Approaching the second article with some ideas about your own reflection on perfectionism can help you put my experience in your perspective.