6 Perils of Perfectionism in Life
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If you are a perfectionist, you will seek absolute perfection in details and set very high standards in almost everything in life. This can be a good personality trait, but there are many disadvantages of perfectionism too. Find out what they are to strike the right balance.
1. You can get lost in the details
Having perfectionism as a characteristic trait can make you lose yourself in the minute details. Whether it is a project at work or a routine household chore, you will be unable to see the bigger picture because all your attention will be focused on the little things. This can be a bad thing because you need to have the ability to see the bigger picture if you want to take on bigger goals in life.
2. You will fall behind time
Being a perfectionist means that you will spend a lot of time to make sure that everything is perfect in every way. This can make you fall behind schedule in a presentation at work because you spent too much time on just one PowerPoint slide. It can make you fall behind in your daily chores at home because you spent too much time cleaning just one part of the living room. These are examples of how the perils of perfectionism can make you fall behind.
3. You will easily be annoyed at others
If you consider yourself to be a perfectionist, you will easily get annoyed at others. That is because you will expect them to work and behave in the same way that you envisage. You will set a very high standard for people’s behavior and work, and you will not be able to tolerate many mistakes. This puts your personal and professional relationships at risk because you will easily lose your cool to someone who does not perform as per your expectations.
4. You won’t find anything good enough
A downside of perfectionism is that nothing will ever be good enough for you. This is because you will start finding flaws in everything and everyone including the people you meet, the food you eat, the places you visit and even the products that you use every day. This will be very stressful for you because you will not attain inner happiness, because at the back of your mind you will always feel that something is amiss.
5. You won’t trust anyone else to do your work
Managers who are perfectionists find it hard to delegate work because they just don’t trust other people to complete work according to their high standards. If you are a perfectionist too, you will face the same problem. You won’t trust anyone to help you with a school project, task at work or even to run a simple errand. It is good to have the positive attitude and not shirk away from responsibility, but you will find yourself overburdened if you try to do everything by yourself.
6. You will try to achieve the impossible
One of the dangers of perfectionism is that you may try to achieve the impossible because you think that everything is possible if you do it the right way. For example, it may be logically impossible to do a certain task all by yourself in an eight hour shift at work, but you will just refuse to take anyone’s help because the pride in your perfectionist attitude will cloud all other logic. At the end of the shift, you will find yourself disappointed because you will realize the mistake you made in trying to be perfect.
