Perfectionism is not excellence — it is a mental trap.
When we are anxious and unsure of our work, we keep editing our emails and keep fine-tuning the presentation far beyond the point of adding value.
The root cause of perfectionism is anxiety. And sadly, perfectionism makes you feel stuck and overwhelmed, further fueling anxiety. It is a vicious cycle.
We often confuse excellence with perfectionism. Excellence is doing your best work – it comes from confidence and knowing what you are doing. Perfectionism comes from not being confident that it is your best work.
Perfectionism does not mean you are not good. I have seen exceptionally qualified and successful people complain about being caught up in perfectionism.
So what is the way out?
Step 1: Self-awareness. Become aware when anxiety is driving your obsessive editing and fine-tuning of your work.
Step 2: Set a deadline and when the deadline hits, you stop and share your work as is, where is. If you want to do an even better job, do it on the next one.
Finally, remind yourself – sometimes, good enough is good enough.
No need to kill yourself over a piece of work — life is bigger than that. Move on.
– Rajan