Avoiding Perfection Paralysis
- kendrickumstattd
- Apr 14, 2020
- 2 min read
As a bit of a perfectionist myself, I think a fair amount about how to fully embrace a mentality of "Progress over perfection," so when this mindset was recently reframed in a novel way, I took particular notice.
Don't let the ego get in the way of progress.
During an Instagram Live workout with one of my favorite people, Jenna Fields, she gave the amazing advice to not let the ego get in the way of progress. She expanded on this, explaining that, especially for perfectionists, it can be all too easy to abandon something if it can't be done completely correctly. This all-or-nothing attitude applies to everything from workouts to 9-to-5 jobs.
Can't do the double crunches exactly like the professional instructor? Might as well quit.
Need to ask a question about a project for work? Throw in the towel now.
This is a dangerous mindset that can especially impact young girls, who have been found, in some cases when asking for help from an instructor on coding problems, to erase the attempts they had made in the code editor, choosing to make it seem as if they hadn't tried at all, as opposed to showing they had made progress but weren't yet perfect. Let that sink in: They would rather make it seem as if they had not yet tried than show they had tried but had not yet fully succeeded.
The way I've been working to avoid perfection paralysis is slightly different in my personal versus professional endeavors.
When I'm trying a new recipe, for instance, I approach it like an experiment. Chances are I won't set the house ablaze, so any missteps inform positive iterations in the future. Any wins are exciting and would not happen without trying.
For work, I think about progress over perfection from a different perspective, which can be boiled down to two things:
1. Take any project one step at a time.
Just as Abraham Lincoln said the best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time, the best thing about a huge project that seems impossible is that you can only do one part of it at any given moment. You don't even have to think about the second step until you're done with the first, which is to just start.
2. Ask questions from a place of strength.
It can be easy to fall into the self-limiting mindset that asking questions shows weakness or incompetence, but how your questions are interpreted comes back to how you feel about them. If you do the research in advance and put in your own effort, there is nothing wrong with asking questions in order to make progress. You were given the project because your team wanted it to be accomplished well and in a timely manner, so if asking a well-informed question moves you closer to that goal, just do it.
With the uncertainty of COVID around us right now, it is especially important to keep an eye on perfectionist tendencies. When there is very little you can control, you might feel inclined to over-control what you can, so this is a reminder to check in with yourself, be genuinely nice to yourself and others, and take things one day, and one step, at a time.
Sending you positive vibes in these strange times.
