I am sure glad that this article came out before I had hand surgery last month.

My wife and child are flying next week. I sure hope the pilots, ground crew, maintenance crew, and all the air traffic controllers along the way didn't read this article! And I sure hope none of the other drivers on the road read this article!

Here is what I don't get: If it doesn't have to be done perfectly, why are you doing it at all? Seriously. The quote from the article is "Much to the surprise of the perfectionists, everything continued to function as usual, and much of their perfection-motivated worries weren't all that important." If everything functions as usual when you do a sloppy job all that proves is that either the tasks you perform are superfluous or the consequences of your sloppiness will take a while to ripen.

AndyFromTucson

So true, so true. I learned this lesson the hard way. Not only did I make myself unhappy, but others around me were affected as well.

WhatThe...

Ugh, Sounds like I have many of those tendencies and character traits. No wonder I think everyone else is a klutz or lazy.

lalahsghost

Holy crap I played that game to death when I was a child.

Maybe that explains me now. :(

fuzzycuffs

so true

long hours are almost always self-inflicted.

like how instead of rushing toward a deadline I'm taking my personal time to unit test and improve quality :(

engtech

Yeah, perfection is over-rated. Unless you're a brain surgeon, rocket scientist, a nuclear reactor technician, or an NFL placekicker.

cv

I can relate to this article in many ways. I arrive at work early because I personally don't like being late nor do I tolerate myself or people being late.

When the average person writes down all their events via a online calendar, calendar or notes in general, I keep everything in my head.

I donno, but it seems I get bored with doing the things that I normally love to do. I wonder why I feel so bored, when in clear fact that I have much I can be doing, but in my mind and emotions play at the sametime telling me that doing that thing is boring. I donno, but its weird.

TheVault

Perfection isn't overrated. It's what got us to the moon and is necessary for anything of similar importance. It's only bad when perfectionism interferes with efficiency, like putting more effort into something for virtually no benefit.

LessIsMore

Some of these comments make me think not everyone actually read the article.

Adam summed it up. Sometimes you need to be a perfectionist, sometimes you don't. Those who are able to differentiate the two tend to lead happier, healthier lives.

theDevilsDue

this article was helpful to me, as I often obsess over the various what-ifs of life and get disappointed at not being able to do everything right, especially with a wife and toddler.

I guess ultimately the 'trick' is to understand the proper gauge of various tasks and prioritize them appropriately and then be ok if some things aren't done as well as they could have been given the time you had.

And I think that understanding can come from a few close friends I can bounce ideas off of.

qrius

@cv: i dont see anything significant about nfl. then again, priorities are ALWAYS perception.

Collaboratory

To AndyFromTucson, you might consider this quote from the article:

"It's natural for people to want to be perfect in a few things, say in their job - being a good editor or surgeon depends on not making mistakes," said Gordon L. Flett, a psychology professor at York University and an author of many of the studies. "It's when it generalizes to other areas of life, home life, appearance, hobbies, that you begin to see real problems."

This, I think, is the main thrust of the article, not that everyone should slack off - no matter what the consequences.

Nicole Marie

@AndyFromTucson: I think the point is that a lot of people do think that ultimately superfluous tasks are extremely important, and that until they stop obsessing about them, they don't realize that. The article isn't claiming that you shouldn't care about your work, nor is it saying that you can't strive for perfection.

The article isn't telling anyone to half-ass their job. And advice like "Leave work on time. Don't arrive early. Take all the breaks allowed," shouldn't cause any problems with your hand surgery or cause your wife's plane to crash. Hopefully what it will do is help your surgeon and pilot be happier people overall, which in turn may make them even better at their jobs.

Adam Pash, LH Senior Editor

Anyways, thanksfor making me even more conscious about my perfectionism. The Smarterchild post / Virgo reference wasn't enough?
Now I'm struggling to find the right words for this post. But since this task isn't so important, I will just press enter to fight my perfectionism

Coming Into The Game, The Superstar Receiver, Of Your Upper Deck Torontooo BJsss

@theDevilsDue: I just read the title and decided to make a lame comment about perfectionism so that I could be first.

Coming Into The Game, The Superstar Receiver, Of Your Upper Deck Torontooo BJsss

I think the author mistook people who are obsessed by success for perfectionists during most of the article. I am one, my mum is one, I know how we're like. However, this:

"Unlike people given psychiatric labels, however, perfectionists neither battle stigma nor consider themselves to be somehow dysfunctional. On the contrary, (...)"They're very proud of it," she said. "And the culture highly values and reinforces their attitudes"

was spot on.

MJ

Happiness comes from within, at this moment. It's the experience of doing that brings satisfaction, not the results.

onesix18

To echo Adam Pash's follow-up, STRIVING for perfection is good. OBSESSING over perfection - even at work - is bad. You want a pilot to WANT to land the plane perfectly. You don't want a pilot to do 52 touch-and-gos just because he couldn't set the gear down exactly on the centerline.

If you can't complete a project because you can't get it PERFECT even though the results will be completely fine, that's not good.

When the pursuit of perfection provokes paralysis, perfectionism poses problems. Try and say that 5 times fast...if you find yourself still trying 2 hours from now, you might want to take a step back :-)

Troy F.

@Adam Pash, LH Senior Editor: @Troy F.: I agree. MISPLACED perfectionism is almost like having OCD, or at least tendencies toward Obsessive Thinking.

There is a concept in novel writing called "The Crappy First Draft" -basically if you obsess over every little detail so much, you may likely never even get the product out the door.

Perfection-Striving Vs. Productivity will Always be a Dynamic Balancing Act; you'll have to redo the calcs for every proj.

(in many cases, excellence is a fine and good substitute for perfection)

spaceman7

It's not perfectionism that's the problem. It's overlooking certain parameters for others. (or rather - optimizing only PART of the system).

In the example of the workaholic - if the workaholic is striving for perfection, it's perfection in his career, at the expense of his family life. That's not perfection.

To lead a perfect life, you look at the WHOLE problem; all of the parameters, the complete system. You prioritize, and yes - you leave work on time, when your family needs you at home more than your family needs you to be at work. THAT is true perfectionism.

All others are using work as an excuse to avoid something at home.

jafac

I think a few perfectionists got a tad bit offended at this post.

I want a pilot who is happy (not suicidal), and will not try to be a perfectionist about landing *just* right, but a pilot who is happy, and does their best job to land the plane in a safe manner. You don't get to be a pilot by doing a sloppy job; so I know I'm safe if they are not a perfectionist.

Duane

Air traffic and the Quaid twins aside, where nothing less than perfection should be tolerated, why NOT relax some of the time? The American Protestant Puritan ethic is so strong in our culture that we drive ourselves nuts to achieve the "perfection" which is required so we don't lose our jobs.

We're partially to blame because we buy so much er, stuff, mostly manufactured overseas and predominantly on credit that we're afraid to slack off a little for fear of being laid off. And then where's the safety net?

The French have a lovely 35-hour week and nice pensions. They also pay high taxes and are probably a little more cautious about what they spend their money on. How many Europeans seem to have that second house in the country for weekends? Spending on real property generally increases the value of structures and provides local tradespeople with employment and farmers for markets.

Where is America's Tuscany? Or Provence? They're out there along with a national health insurance safety net and the promise of a secure retirement.

vesuvian

Have any tips for the student perfectionist? I recently read your "Why I regret getting straight A's in College" article (story of my life :P), but I still have a hard time letting go. I just always have to do my best :P

anadeixis