How I Shifted from Perfection to Growth

“If I could just make it a little bit better…” This seemingly innocent thought can be a major hindrance to productivity and negatively impact your self-worth. The pursuit of perfection is applauded by many today as a worthy goal but is debilitating when you are stuck in constant ‘edit mode.’ Perfection is an ideal and unrealistic to maintain. It is like striving to reach your full potential…you might get close at times, but it is unsustainable.

A Better Goal

A better goal is growth. When you seek to grow you can enjoy the journey and feel satisfaction with the effort being made each day. For example, suppose you are training to run a half marathon. Missing a few days of working out could be so discouraging to some that they throw in the towel and abandon the goal altogether. For those with a growth mentality, they focus on still being in training towards the goal and get back to working out the next day.

If you are working on a big project, the perfectionist will usually wait until 95% done before getting feedback. The growth-oriented person will show their work to others when 50-70% done so that they can make needed adjustments and actually finish quicker. They will also not take feedback as personally since they are not almost done and can join in the efforts to make it better.

Perfectionism as a Leader

Dealing with perfectionism is important if you are responsible for a team because it can lead to being a micro-manager and overly critical of those who report to you.

For those who consistently miss deadlines or underestimate costs, I encourage factoring in another 25% to be more realistic and help guide their projections. Far too many people let their ego get involved leading to over-promising because they are imagining what a perfectly executed project looks like.

Grace

It is important that you can extend yourself grace and forgiveness appropriately along the way. Create short term rewards for yourself to motivate your efforts.

Focusing on growth rather than perfection will lead to a much healthier outlook and better relationships at work and in life.

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