Are You A Perfectionist ?

PressurePros

This is an article on yahoo finance today. Interesting article that may make some people think. After reading it, now I know I am way better off being NOT behind a wand. (or designing websites)

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by Penelope Trunk The Brazen Careerist

I'm not a perfectionist. In fact, when I painted my walls I didn't paint near the windows because I didn't want to do the detail work. When I accidentally address an envelope upside down, I don't get a new envelope.

You know what? Doing those things hasn't made my life any worse. It hasn't made me unhappy, and it's freed me up to do other things besides worry about if what I do is perfect.


A Lack of Perfection = Perfection

I have a good eye for how well something has to be done in order to accomplish what I need to accomplish, and it's one of my favorite traits about myself. The good that comes from a lack of perfection is that I can set a lot of goals for myself because I get them done.

Here are the reasons I can't stand perfectionists:

• Perfectionists procrastinate because they're scared of not being perfect.

• Perfectionists are hypercritical to the point that they can't support people around them.

• Perfectionists can't finish a project because they can always think of a way to improve it.

• Perfectionists are phony, because no one's perfect and they can't handle showing that in themselves.


Four Steps to Imperfection

Here are four things to think about if you're letting perfectionism dictate your life:

1. You get more done if you don't sweat the details.

My disdain for details started when I looked around at all the people who are disappointed with their lives. For the most part, these are people who wish they'd done something that they didn't do for fear of failure. In the worst cases, these people have whole lists of such things. Then I saw a bumper sticker that read, "What would you do if failure were not an option?"

When I went through my own list of what I would do, I decided that if I stopped worrying about failure I'd be able to do a lot more. So I started focusing on just getting stuff done instead of getting it done perfectly. Details fell by the wayside.

I also noticed that once I stopped worrying about doing something perfectly, I didn't have nearly as much reason for procrastination. It's easy to start something if you tell yourself that getting it done 70 percent perfect (as opposed to 100 percent) is OK.

Believe it or not, in most cases 70 percent perfect is fine for what we do. The trick is to balance fearlessness with attention to detail and understand when you need to concentrate on each.

2. You do better work if you aren't worried about perfection.

Here's a story I heard from Alexander Kjerulf, who was talking about David Bayles's book "Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking":

A ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of the work they produced. All those on the right would be graded solely on their works' quality.

His procedure was simple: On the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work of the quantity group; 50 pound of pots rated an A, 40 pounds a B, and so on. Those being graded on quality, however, needed to produce only one pot -- albeit a perfect one -- to get an A.

At grading time, the works with the highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity.

It seems that while the quantity group was busily churning out piles of work -- and learning from their mistakes -- the quality group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of clay.

Think about this in your own life, even if you're not using clay. The more you practice, the better you'll get. But you can't practice if you think only of perfection. Practice is about making mistakes; perfection comes from imperfection.

3. Working the longest hours doesn't mean you're doing the best work.

Usually, the hardest worker in an office is a perfectionist. This begs a few questions: Why does this person need to work harder than everyone else? Is she slow? Is she stupid? Is she avoiding her home life?

The people working the hardest are usually stuck on getting all the details perfect, but they've lost sight of one of the most important things -- which is that you look desperate if you work more hours than everyone else. The person working the hardest looks incompetent, either at managing their workload or at managing their family life.

Of course, you don't want to work the least number of hours, either. But you want to fall somewhere in between. People who work very long hours are inefficient and sometimes get so little sleep that they're performing at the level of a drunkard at work. So cut back your hours, and even if you do things with less attention to detail in order to get them done faster, they might actually get done better because you have a better handle on the time in your life.

4. Stop procrastination by stopping perfectionism.

One of the biggest productivity problems is procrastination. And one of the biggest contributors to procrastination is the feeling that we need to do something perfectly.

The key to ending procrastination in your life is to be honest about what you're really doing with your time and energy. Look closely at why you've made the bar so high that you can't even start. Procrastination can only flourish in a situation where perfection is so clearly demanded and so intrinsically impossible that inaction seems preferable to action.

So be honest with yourself about why being perfect is so important to you. Perfectionism doesn't make people happy, and often makes them nutcases.

And remember those clay pots -- they represent all the creativity and excitement you could unleash if you'd let the attention to detail slip a little.

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Ken Fenner
Pressure Washing PA
Roof Cleaning Services PA

thom

Thanks. I'm certainly not a perfectionist, the letter is food for thought though. Think I'll send it to my son, whose about to get his masters in architecture.

dirt diggler

thats a neat article

i think i do procrastinate because of wanting things to "be right" ... good stuff that article


not sure if im perfect but i am a nut case

Mike Finley

I think that little b*tch needs a good slap.

I'd do it too, but I'm not sure if when I do it will be quite right, so I need to sit here and....

PressurePros

You know, Mike, that was my initial reaction as well. What an abrasive, self righteous witch. Then I thought about it and the reason I was reacting this way was because it struck a nerve.

I'm sure this is a touchy subject among craftsmen.

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Ken Fenner
Pressure Washing PA
Roof Cleaning Services PA

Tom M

Thats a great article. Im a victim. I dont know if its right or not. The struggle with quality is often "doing the job correctly". To me doing 70% of the right job is usually not good enough. The job is either half-assed or incomplete. Good work takes time and time is money. The public is getting lazier every year. Doing your job with pride or putting in extra hours should be something to be proud of instead of being the sucker. Isnt it the same for a smart kid in school who breaks his ass studying to get good grades so he can land a great job verses a kid who cheats through school to get by and then gets handed a high paying gravy job from someone whom he has a connection with. I wish I was born with that carefree-careless attitude sometimes. I would get more done, sleep better and have less stress.

Dave Mac

ken thanks for sharing great read

Subia29

''Perfectionsts are phoney,Dont polish that terd,cause guess what? It 's still a terd.'' By The Brazen Careerist. That's funny lol

woodmagman

I think what this person has done is perfected a way to avoid the reality of completing a given task to the degree as considered normal...and given themselves the o.k. because to be normal is being a perfectionist, which is bad.

Zero Punch

I agree somewhat that perfectionism can have a detrimental effect on ones work but doing less than one is capable of or the job conditions or requirements call for is sheer laziness. It does sound democratic though doesn't it?

PressurePros

huh?

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Ken Fenner
Pressure Washing PA
Roof Cleaning Services PA

woodmagman

The writter is sounding off on people doing what they believe to be normal as being ab-normal and socialy unacceptable.

woodmagman

One persons number for PIE is 3.14 anothers is, something with alot more .000000000000

woodmagman

Justifing the fact that you do not need to paint closer the 2" to the trim does not make it right because the writter believes it to be...It is physically lazy because you can justify the fact that it is, what it is...only half painted..meaning not complete. A carrot stick and a 2x4 are in order.....

Magnettica

I think the article is a bunch of bull.

If you don't "sweat the details" it is more likely that an error is made that may or may not be discovered until later on a particuliar project when the mistake is more costly to fix. I prefer delivering quality over quantity any day of the week. So by all means go ahead and get more done and do a crappy job because you forgot to pay attention to detail.

You do better work when you care about the work you are doing. For some reason I think of trimming carpernter and what his work looks like if he isn't concerned with perfection. It'll loook like crap! But if crap is what that carpernter is selling, fine. A high quality job justifies higher prices and a better living.

This is what really ticked me off when I decided to reply to this article. There is nothing wrong with working long hours, especially if you like making money. Say if you earn $20 per hour at your job and you earn time-and-a-half on Saturdays, or anything over 40 hours a week. If you work every Saturday for the entire year you will gross $12,480 more dollars than the guy who stayed home or went to the ball game. Add 2 hours per day on top of that and you'll earn more than double that figure. Do good work and you can earn even more than that. Working 58 hours per week for an entire year is enough to put a down payment on a new home. Again, nothing wrong with working harder than the next guy.

Remember, lack of money is the root of all evil.

Work harder, smarter, and longer and you'll be more successful.



...just my $0.02

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PressurePros

Don't read too much into it, wood. I think she was taking the extreme far side to make her point. I think most people read this and understand that there is a happy medium.

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Ken Fenner
Pressure Washing PA
Roof Cleaning Services PA

farrellpainting

As a painter I kind of understand what she's saying, but If everyone only gave 70% ........well, that would just suck.I want things done 100%!She has the mentality of a McDonalds employee, you know the one that can't even put a damn burger together!I wonder where this lady works, that she can "get-r-done" 70% and then waste the other 30% writting an articale about how people should decrease the quality of their work?What a crazy broad!


What I meant by "as a painter" was , you can never get a line 100%, and sometimes I do waste too much time/$$$ because I am perfectionist, but I don't think that it's ruining my life!Actually if I wasn't a perfectionist I'd probably be screwed, because I'm a dumbass otherwise!

phinsher

I agree, it seems as though this article is written for those who are more on the obcessive/compulsive side, rather that for a person just concerned with quality. I was once afflicted with the perfectionism bug, I still do quality work, and now i make some money

POOLMANinCT

if your install doesn't void manufacturer's warranty is it perfect?

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......Less with the jaw & More with the paw.....

Mater

As a drywall finisher, I find myself on jobs at especially the skim and many times the bed coat playing with my mud too much, and I should just LEAVE IT ALONE! It's what my journeyman told me with 42 years exp. I better quit playing with my mud. BTW: I wonder what the paint would look like if I only finished out 70% of my seams?