Pursuit of Perfectionism

Many of you could proud of when you proclaimed yourself as a perfectionist person. In our young age, we’re told to reach for the stars. Parents and teachers encourage their children to become high achievers and give them gold stars for work well done. Perfectionists learn early on to live by the words “I achieve, therefore I am” and nothing thrills them quite like impressing others or themselves with their performance.

Unfortunately, chasing those straight A’s in school, work and life can lead to a lifetime of frustration and self-doubt. The reach for perfection can be painful because it is often driven by both a desire to do well and a fear of the consequences of not doing well, this is the double-edged sword of perfectionism.

You don’t trust me? Then you should see me and having couple hours for coffee time so I can convince you about it. This perfectionism issue is actually happened to me, and until this time I’m still struggling to change the way I see myself as a perfectionist.

When you have a ‘perfectionist environment’ where everyone is perfectionist, sometimes it’s pushing you to do the same way. People with perfectionist personality type tend to be conscientious and detail-oriented. Such people tend to persuade through logic. They like explaining things, sometimes boring. They’re very well organized and present feedback in a workmanlike manner.

True that perfectionism has its benefits, especially in work, where it motivates over-achievers to pursue high standards and new visions. Perfectionists are driven to improve and innovate. They are disciplined and detail-oriented both of which are critical in professions where there is no margin for error. But we know, life doesn’t work that way my dear. We will always have a space for mistake and we need to learn to say “that’s good enough” instead of chasing the perfection.

Then, when we realized that perfectionism is never exist, why do most of us spend an incredible amount of time and energy trying to be everything to everyone? Is it that we really admire perfection? No! The truth is that we are actually drawn to people who are real and down-to-earth. We love authenticity and we know that life is messy and imperfect.

Why we’re all so afraid to let our true selves be seen and known. Why are we so paralyzed by what other people think?