“My weakness is I’m a perfectionist.”
Says a man who declares it as a flaw but secretly take some pride in it.
Noticed how people widely see it as a “positive flaw?”
It’s even used by a lot of people to impress an employer in job interviews.
I can’t blame anyone for it because it is evil in disguise.
But if we fully grasp the reality of perfectionism, it is a harmful influence on humankind.
I was a perfectionist myself, and it does not mean I do things perfectly; it means that I’m blocked by my fears that I might make mistakes.
I’m a recovering awkward person.
Instead of taking action, I freeze out for fears that I might embarrass myself or make ugly results.
5 Facts About Being a Perfectionist and Why It Is Unhealthy
Fact # 1: It is one of the root causes of depression.
When you dislike your life, you will likely develop perfectionism which leads to depression. Perfectionism causes you never to be satisfied with little progress and processes in life. One thing we should live with is that everything is a process, and nothing is perfect. Practice appreciating the little things you have in your everyday life.
Fact # 2: It is a hindrance to our goals.
Perfectionism can hurt performance. An example of this is that, years ago, I attempted to start writing, but I never achieved consistency. The reason was I wanted my contents to be good enough as those that I’ve read in our school magazines, or I even compare my writings with those published authors. Whenever I read them, I thought, “I can never make good content like this, my dream of writing is unreachable.” We’ll never achieve the things we want with a mindset like that. I realized that I could only be a good writer as them if I started writing despite my performance at the moment. When I knew how to build a habit the right way, I made a goal of writing a minimum of 50 words per day as a starter (that’s 350 words per week), but I usually write 200-300 words a day when I’m in a “flow state .” Of course, I still have fears even until now, but I’m doing it anyway. My writing is improving every day because I learn from my mistakes. As Susan Jeffers said, “Feel the fear and do it anyway.”
Fact # 3: You will likely criticize more instead of appreciating about the little things.
How you will judge yourself is how you will judge other people. If you think you will never succeed in something because you feel it’s unreachable, you’ll likely think the same for others. If you don’t appreciate little progress on yourself, you’ll likely judge others for progressing very little.
Fact # 4: It is a characteristic of insecurity.
When you don’t believe in yourself, you’ll never appreciate little progress. Successful YouTubers who started from scratch take every follower as a success – every follower counts – as they focus on improving and learning more. Perfectionist YouTubers will give up improving his channel when he doesn’t get his desired number of followers.
Fact # 5: It is programmed in the human mind at a younger age.
An example of this is those young students who are strictly taught by parents to aim for the highest grades. Don’t get me wrong; there’s nothing wrong with teaching your child to get excellent grades. But making them feel that an average grade is not good enough will develop their beliefs of perfectionism. When the mind is young, it is in the most vulnerable state to gather information. Click here to learn more.
Related Post: The Cure to Depression | The Power of Your Subconscious Mind
Embracing Imperfections
One of my favorite mentors, Stephen Guise, wrote the book “How to Be an Imperfectionist.”
He changed my perspectives, and his ideas allowed me to embrace imperfections.
I was the kind who ruminates over my past mistakes.
I was the kind who can’t decide so quickly.
It takes time for me to decide on something to think it through further and investigate which one is the best choice.
In the end, I’m not sure anymore if I got an answer.
Sometimes, I’d quit and not do anything instead.
The truth is that most of the best ideas come out earlier in our thoughts, and the second we ruminate about it is the moment we lose those ideas.
The moment we ruminate, that’s when our doubts eat us.
And when we’re doubtful, the fear of making a mistake comes out.
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I remember a friend told me years ago how mistakes can still fall into the right places in the end.
Do you have those moments when you made a mistake, and at the end of the day it turned out to be the best choice you made?
There is no right or wrong decision.
We decide on something, and if it goes wrong, we adapt to it, and we make it work.
We choose and decide regardless of the non-assurance of selecting the best choice rather than standing still and waiting for signs.
Let experience be your teacher.
Let mistakes be your ladder.
“Trial and error” is one of the best lessons I have learned.
If I’m doubtful about something, all I need to do is decide and choose the ones closest to my intuition.
If I make a terrible choice, let it be my teacher.
We never really improve ourselves without making a lot of mistakes.
And besides, I believe that the Universe is very generous that we never run out of chances if we have an unwavering FAITH – which is the exact opposite of fear.
Are you a perfectionist?
Or…
An imperfectionist striving for excellence?
Leave your comments below and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.
