In the modern world, telling a group of people that you’re a perfectionist leads to grimacing smiles, painful groans and even people slowly backing away from you. No sane person would want to be seen near one. Essentially, perfectionism is the Cereal Killer cafe of personality traits. How did we get to this point? Nearly everyone who’s ever worked with other human beings has horror stories to tell about perfectionists and their impossible work ethic (if you don’t, then the stories being told are about you).
In a recent study , Joachim Stoeber, professor of psychology at Kent University, classified perfectionists into three categories: the “self-oriented” group got sterling praise for managing to shy away from aggressive jokes.
The “socially prescribed” and “other-oriented” groups had low self-esteem, did not respond well to feedback (however positive), and exhibited anti-social behaviour.
In the light of such unflattering public opinion, I’m here to make a stand for the perfectionists and explain why they aren’t a plague upon mankind (and group projects). And of course, I’ll attempt to do it perfectly.
Perfectionism gets a daily rap on the knuckles partly because it’s conflated with traits such as procrastination and OCD. Moreover, not enough attention is accorded to its temporal dimensions: it can be both a short-term characteristic and a long-term guiding belief. And by diffusing the core idea behind it into a much bigger and looser entity, it becomes an easy punching bag.
“Perfectionism” is often seen in the stereotypical boor who will stay up all night to choose the “right” font for the PowerPoint presentation before beginning work on her slides. (Helvetica: never fails.) This person will also want to read “just one more article” for research instead of actually commencing her own writing, and before she knows it the day is over.
This isn’t true perfectionism though, as it shows procrastination and fear, not a desire to do the best job possible.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Louis CK ended a description of his work habits by saying: “The worst thing happening to this generation is that they’re taking discomfort away from themselves.”
When you can’t figure out a way to conclude your essay, and so end up trawling through the kitchen for chocolate, you’re running away from this discomfort. Yet this discomfort is precisely what drives perfectionists in every waking moment: the feeling that being “good enough” isn’t, well, enough and that in this sweaty quagmire inspiration resides.
Dorothy Parker could obviously relate, when she said: “I hate writing, I love having written.”
What keeps perfectionists in check is an acknowledgment of real-world conditions. A perfectionist doesn’t hope for the best version of a task given her best ever performance, to be delivered in unlimited time. A perfectionist works to produce the best possible version of a task given her best achievable performance, all inside the given time constraints.
And wouldn’t you be glad to have such a person on your side? There’s a certain cushion to teamwork since blame can rarely be pinpointed on anyone, and there’s always the hope that someone else’s perspiration will make up for your hibernation.
But when there’s even one ambitious member who’ll create self-imposed deadlines and ask for a chart to supplement the bullet point, the work you produce will be that much better.
There’s a misguided perception that were you to ask a self-proclaimed “perfectionist” to look back upon their work and ask if they were happy with it, they would start tearing their hair out, scream about a clumsy turn of phrase or superfluous comma, and lose sleep for the entire summer.
This person may be a perfectionist, but more importantly she has trouble letting go and moving on. A true perfectionist would reflect upon the circumstances around the work, rest assured that no corners were cut, and learn some lessons.
The idea for the article you’re reading now was floated on Twitter in the morning, and by noon I was committed to writing it. I’m absolutely sure that a week from now, I’ll have seven different ideas on how it could be improved. But, in this moment, I’m happy with it. And that’s good enough for the perfectionist in me.
— Guardian News & Media Ltd, 2015
