But what if being a perfectionist really could be your greatest weakness? Despite its positive perception, perfectionism is often a maladaptive or harmful coping mechanism developed in response to trauma or learned from a parent or caregiver. From the outside, one might see a hardworking go-getter, but actually living with perfectionism can be frustrating and exhausting. It can even stand in the way of personal growth and success.
Here are 4 reasons why the trait we often categorize as a strength can actually be a weakness after all:. Perfectionism does not typically exist exclusively in one area of your life, like work or school. In other words, perfectionists put so much weight in their performance that when they fall short, they internalize these feelings of failure.
Bombing an important work presentation never feels good, but to the perfectionist something like this can be crushing. We dance between the two when making decisions and taking action throughout the day. On the other hand, if you strive for perfection from the source of inspiration, from the love for excellence, and doing what is possible in your vision:.
The bad news is that it is not easy to tell if you are truly coming from desperation or inspiration, especially if the fear is residing in the subconscious level. It is possible to feel like we are inspired to our perfection, but in reality, it comes from the need to be approved by others or from the fear of failure.
But the good news is that you can develop a strong self-awareness. Learn to catch yourself when you are feeling stressed, angry and fearful, and ask yourself where did those feelings originate from and let them go.
Although we will never be able to fully get rid of the stress and anxiety when striving for perfection or excellence, they can be short-lived. It is critical to understand the distinction between perfection and excellence. This paradigm shift could pivot us from chasing to creating excellence. Having built a multi-award-winning recruitment company over 16 years, especially when recruiting for the top industry players in the Biotech and Pharmaceutical industries, one of our key successes was being able to identify the leadership talent who strove for excellence and also was able to lead and inspire their teams to the same vision.
When I let go of perfection and replace it with excellence, I find liberation in my pursuit of success. What robs us of happiness is not the quest for excellence or perfection, but the attachment to an outcome. To a perfectionist, nothing is ever good enough, but we can choose to be happy with a Work in Progress and make it more perfect the next round. You still need to be very practical and realistic. You need to constantly ask yourself how much more perfect this project needs to be at a given point to impact the objectives.
Perfectionism — Is it a strength or a weakness? March 17, asparker 0 Comment. The next time you are working on something that is consuming most of your time because you want it to be perfect, ask yourself the following questions: What would I rather be doing?
What parts of my life am I ignoring? What is it about this project that takes precedent? What and who are my priorities? Am I living a life that takes my priorities into account? Previous Post Happy at Work? Use Market Research to Find the Answer. Comments are closed. Free Values Assessment Subscribe to my newsletters and receive a free values assessment as a gift! Choose One: Lawyers Career Changers. Taking measures to better manage perfectionists will become a bigger managerial priority.
One study of nearly 42, young people around the world found that perfectionism has risen over the last 27 years. Striving to be perfect is not overly beneficial for employees and has significant costs for employees and organizations. You have 1 free article s left this month. You are reading your last free article for this month. Subscribe for unlimited access. Create an account to read 2 more. Developing employees. At what point does an all-or-nothing mindset hurt your career?
Breidenthal, and Laurens Bujold Steed. Read more on Developing employees or related topics Employee performance management , Psychology and Stress management.
His research focuses on how and why employees enter and exit organizations. Dana Harari is a Ph.
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