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Science-Backed Ways To Quiet Your Inner Perfectionist
Asking For 30/90 Feedback
If a project is at 90%, you’re asking for line-level feedback like typos, glitches, or silly mistakes. At 30%, the reviewer skips over those things (assuming they’ll be looped in later to help with them) and focuses on the broader strokes: structure, strategy, approach.
Using this technique can help curb the socially-prescribed perfectionism in the workplace. It also makes your managers more aware of the status of your projects, and thus less likely to pile more on you.
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Key Ideas
Let go of the need to be perfect
- Start small: Get comfortable to let go of the need to be perfect from the beginning.
- Try an outside perspective: We're usually hard on ourselv...
“Done” is always better than “Perfect”
“Perfect” and “productive” aren’t the same thing; perfectionism is actually counterproductive.
Just because society is placing a higher value on perfection doesn’t mean you’re actually getting more done.
3 types of perfectionism
- Self-oriented: when people are highly critical of themselves.
- Other-oriented: when people are highly critical of others.
- Socially-prescribed: when people think others expect them to be perfect and then pressure themselves to be perfect in order to meet those expectations.
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Key Ideas
Do a weekly review to reflect on your progress
Try to identify things you avoided due to fear of failure and situations where your perfectionism wasn’t worth it or moments where you did well despite being uncertain.
You...
Get an outside perspective on your perfectionist tendencies
Talk honestly and openly to someone about your tendencies and how you’re working on getting better.
Ask them to tell you when you are being too fussy about something so you can think about it.
Interrupting the cycle of rumination
- Take note of when you’re ruminating and what triggers it until you can see your patterns and find ways to counteract them.
- Don't trust your first reaction when ruminating. Most of the time, it colors negatively your read of the situation.
- Seek a diversion to break the rumination cycle.
- Think positively: remembering your successes and times you tried new things helps you to not be avoidant of tasks you can’t do perfectly.
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Key Ideas
Perfectionism
It can either propel you into serious action or paralyze your ability to accomplish even the most basic tasks.
Often, those who struggle with perfectionism have issues giving up control. In ...
Accept the outcome
If you’re struggling with the thought of submitting a task that you feel is less than perfect, create a list of the worst-case scenarios.
Ask yourself what's the worst that can happen. You'll most likely find out that the only negative aspect is the continuous rumination that'll keep you from finishing other important work.
Shifting your perspective
The positive side of perfectionism is the idea that you possess the motivation and a level of detailed attention that is unmatched by many.
The trouble happens, though, when you get so caught up in the details that you fail to see the bigger picture.