One Saturday morning, my 6-year-old daughter was making a birthday card for a friend. She was sitting at a small table, and on the floor next to her were about ten crumpled sheets of paper. She kept writing the letter “H” for “Happy Birthday,” then deciding she didn’t like how it looked. She was getting frustrated, and I wanted her to stop using up all the paper.
The urge to be perfect can prevent you from taking action. You don’t share creative projects that aren’t 100 per cent ready, or you’re afraid to ask someone out if you’re not sure it’s exactly right — so you just ... don’t. If you’re feeling stymied by this need to never screw up, try making a mistake on purpose.
Fretting over every little detail and putting in extra hours at work may make you feel like you're the world's best employee, but perfectionism may be the one thing holding you back in your career.
Perfectionism is often treated as a virtue -- especially in the workplace -- but research shows that the self-imposed pressure perform flawlessly just leads to eventual burnout. Perfection simply isn't how you should measure success.
It's hard to ignore a flaw when you see it. You know it's there, it's all you can focus on, and you don't want to accept it. You want to fix it before you release your work to the public. If you're waiting for it to be perfect, though, you're probably just stalling.
Being the office overachiever might feel good, what with all the pats on the back and thumbs ups from your boss. But there's a fine line between doing your best work and being a chronic overachiever, which can set you up for failure. Here's why you might want to rethink that "I can do it all" attitude.
