It may seem like our society glorifies being a perfectionist. It’s considered both a “strength” and a “weakness” in those example job interview questions you find online.
It’s made out to be a good thing in all forms of popular media and across social media. Everywhere you turn, it seems like perfectionism is made out to be a good thing.
Therein lies the problem. Perfection is highly desired so perfectionism must be good, right?
Except that perfection isn’t possible. No one and nothing is perfect and can’t be. That makes striving for perfection an impossible task and makes perfectionism unhealthy.
All these things are indisputably good character traits. The problem is that perfectionism takes all of these and pushes them to toxic levels. Even “great” becomes “not good enough” and every goal achieved, no matter how lofty, must be succeeded by an even harder goal.
This is why perfectionism is unhealthy. It knows no limits or boundaries and sets standards that are impossible to meet. This causes stress and anxiety. It can lead to depression, mental health issues, and in some cases, suicide. Athletes injure themselves by pushing their bodies too far.
The desire to be perfect often results in so much procrastination that nothing ever gets done. In other words, the positive personality traits inherent to all perfectionists get turned on their owners.
Furthermore, many perfectionists turn these traits outward and apply them to others. They put their own impossibly high standards on their co-workers, employees, friends, and loved ones. They can even become controlling towards other people. The natural result of both of these is lost friendships, destroyed relationships, ended marriages, wrecked careers, and lost jobs.
Perfectionism is hard but not impossible to overcome. It can’t be done overnight. It must be done little by little. It takes hard work and dedication -two of the character traits perfectionists are known for!
You don’t have to surrender to your perfectionism and just accept it as a permanent feature of your personality. If you’re struggling with perfectionism, know that you can move beyond it and live a much healthier and more rewarding life.
You just have to work hard at making progress over your perfectionism. You can do this. And the outcome will be more than worth it!