Plagued By Personal Perfectionism

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I often am the last to turn in my assignments, sometimes, I miss the deadline, and end up having to make it up later. I'm not sure if I would be accepted to graphic studios with Perfectionism inside me.

I just can't seem to shake it off, as if I always have to end things beautifully, everytime! And time, deadlines have been my enemy for a long time. I really hate the fact that the 21st century isn't like the 1500's & 1600's where perfectionism was permitted. Nowdays, you haved to do **** as fast as possible, and perfectionism seems to be discrimminated.

I don't really know what to do now besides "hope" that the boss in which I'll be working in 2 years of time isn't a capitalist deadline freak and tries to rush things in a matter of seconds...

I have no easy answer.

Having been around some, I've noticed where speed counts, most places accept lower quality as the trade off. Just look at what's happened with outsourcing and off shoring jobs. That tech support guy in India who can barely speak English is the trade off. He barely understands you, is infuriating to deal with, and you're lucky if anything positive gets done...all so the company could provide tech support cheaper.

Obviously "perfectionism" wasn't an issue.

Then you have jobs that want the best and brightest, and they are hiring talent. There, you feel that if you don't bring your "A Game" every day, you could be told to pack your things and go home.

I think most places fall somewhere in between. Most everyone is mediocre in general terms. We all tend to excel at one thing or another, but across the board, we're average at best.

I've learned to let go a lot of my need to do things perfectly. Mostly because it made me a nervous wreck, and I accepted that I am not "the best" at ANYTHING I do. I'm above average in many things, but never "the best." Trying to be "the best" was making me a basket case.

That, and a therapist told me that if you obsess over your "performance" you will perform badly. The best performance comes from when you are focused on your job, not how people perceive your performance of it. My best jobs were when I couldn't care less about keeping the job. My worst experiences were when I cared passionately about where it was going and how well I did it. My energy was focused on my anxiety over my performance, not on my actual performance.

You could be a baseball player in America. You are still wanted if you fail to get on base 50% of the time.

The Yankees and Red Sox have players that take their time--when they play together their games are the longest in baseball--the games often don't end before midnight!

The Red Sox actually have a player, Josh Reddick, they wouldn't let play at the major league level until he became more patient and took pitches, instead of swinging at everything.

I am a perfectionist, but perfectionism includes finishing things before deadlines.

I always try to do my best, but I never push myself to go beyond that.

The right to be a "perfectionist" still exists - it is one of the traits of successful and wealthy people, after all.

Acceptance of this trait by those who would rather live their lives as slackers and deadbeats, on the other hand, may be in decline.

I used to have a problem with perfectionism. I always tried to push myself to get straight A's and all it did for me was make me an emotional wreck.

Perfectionism is an emotional attachment to one's work. One could consider their work a reflection of themselves so if every little detail isn't absolutely perfect, then that must mean they are not perfect and it must be corrected at all costs.

No one is perfect and therefore no one's work can be perfect. I aim for high quality in a respectable amount of time. I am often the last 30% of the class to turn in their tests/projects/quizzes, but I leave knowing I did better than most of my peers.

I encourage you to turn in incomplete work anyway. Just because you didn't get a 100% doesn't mean you deserve a 0%.