Don't be a Perfectionist

Personal Development

A dictionary defines a perfectionist as a person who wants everything to be faultless, demands the highest standards, and section even expects others to meet their standards. Too many executives think chasing perfectionism in everything they do in their personal or work life is the correct way to live. But being a perfectionist is nothing to be proud of. Perfectionism is a weakness or an addiction that a causes more harm than good not only to you but also to the people with who you interact. Perfectionists are only trying to avoid failure and are frightened about others detecting any mistakes in their work. So, they spend a lot of time and energy trying to fix everything. Here are a bunch of reasons why perfectionists make poor managers or leaders.

Reason-1: Perfectionism drains energy by giving equal importance to small, medium, and big things. You will spend a lot of time, effort, and even money to reach a level of perfection that you are satisfied with. But ask whether the return on investment was worth all that effort.

For example, if you are a freelancer who does low-cost graphic design, will you spend five hours designing a superb book cover or logo if you are charging just $25 for that job just to impress the customer or yourself? Will the customer pay more just because you have spent five hours on it? He may give more orders for $25 because he knows that you will do free excellent work that is highly affordable to him, while you drain your energy for minuscule returns.