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Why being perfect is bad: This article is all about perfection. We will spend a lot of time complaining about perfection. Although I’m a huge fan of doing things with great quality, I like completion more than perfection. The reason is, that perfection appears to be a never-ending goal and it is hard to maintain motivation for something of this nature. Instead, we focus on continued progress and improvement that can have a compelling influence on our lives.

Why being perfect is bad?

Perfectionism is about setting high standards for ourselves and the work we do. Although there’s nothing bad in setting high standards, we tend to forget that they are aspirational. These goals of perfection show us the way to move forward. But the problems arise when they add pressure on us and make it difficult to progress. We need to find a balance between being perfect and progress to define our path forward in life.

With this background, we look at 5 key reasons why being perfect is bad:

Perfectionism Increases Stress and Anxiety

Perfectionism can lead to heightened stress and anxiety levels. The constant pressure to meet impossibly high standards can create a sense of failure and dissatisfaction. Unfortunately, this causes stress while denying us the pleasure of completing tasks.

Leads to Procrastination and Inaction:

The fear of not being perfect can result in procrastination. Perfectionists often delay or avoid tasks altogether because they fear the results won’t meet their high standards. This results in inaction, avoiding progress due to the fear of failure.

Hampers Creativity and Innovation:

Perfectionism can stifle creativity. The fear of making mistakes can prevent individuals from trying new approaches or thinking outside the box, as they stick to what they know will work flawlessly.

Affects Mental and Physical Health:

The relentless pursuit of perfection can take a toll on mental and physical health. It can lead to chronic conditions like depression, eating disorders, and burnout due to constant stress and self-criticism.

Impedes Personal Growth and Learning:

Perfection is an unattainable goal, and constantly striving for it can hinder personal growth. Mistakes and failures are essential for learning and development, but perfectionists often view them as unacceptable, missing out on valuable learning opportunities.

Perfection vs progress

I’d always take the side of progress vs perfection. Perfection is a finite goal. Once we achieve this, there is nothing else to do and is no more fun. Whereas progress is continuous and helps us keep moving forward. We can increase the size of our challenge and do more exciting things. Perfection sounds great, but the rewards for perfection is often less. Progress on the other hand can help us take better challenges. So, instead of chasing an unreasonable goal of perfection, we can keep it a bit more open and have fun with goal setting.

After all, life is a continuous journey. Success is a continuous journey. We should not limit it with the limitations of perfection. Here are 5 key points that help us differentiate and make a case of progress vs perfection

Continuous Improvement is a key element of success and progress

Progress focuses on ongoing improvement and development. It’s about setting realistic goals and celebrating incremental achievements. Perfection, on the other hand, often demands a final, flawless outcome. It stops once you achieve this state and there’s nothing else to look forward to. Progress on the other hand can continue to grow and improve with you. It can help you set more exciting goals and continue to grow.

Progress supports Learning from Mistakes while perfectionism is about preventing mistakes

This is the biggest element of success – learning from our experiences. Progress means being adaptable and learning from mistakes. It helps us grow, take feedback and move forward. This prevents us from being ashamed of our failures. Instead, we can use them as learning experiences, take feedback and change our approach. Perfectionism views mistakes as failures and creates a crippling fear of failure that prevents us from doing anything.

Progress gives continuous Motivation whereas perfectionism sets Unrealistic Standards:

Progress gives us continuous motivation. It helps us look at what we have achieved and gives us a good view of what we have done. It helps us celebrate some of our successes in the process and recognises that success is a continuous journey and a powerful mindset of growth. Perfection limits our mindset and creates unreasonable standards. Even if we achieve a goal, we are so attuned to finding faults that it makes finding motivation very hard.

Perfectionism can hamper Well-being and add stress

Progress is well-being – it helps us acknowledge our growth, success and movement. It helps us recognise how far we have come with life. Perfection gives very little flexibility. If things don’t go our way, it makes us feel bad about ourselves and the feeling of failure creeps up. This feeling of failure will never go away unless we take on the growth mindset and strive towards progress.

Progress is sustainable and helps create Long-Term Success

This is the last but the main point about progress vs perfection. Progress is sustainable because it gives us a continuous journey and helps us think of life as a never ending pursuit. Perfection makes us focus on faults and find all the missing things in life. In this process, it is an unsustainable goal because we will always be stuck at simpler details than the big picture of life. Progress gives us something to aim for and also the sense of success and achievement where perfection fails.

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfectionism_(psychology)

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jun/04/the-rise-of-perfectionism-and-the-harm-its-doing-us-all

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20180219-toxic-perfectionism-is-on-the-rise