Perfection Is an Illusion: Stop Trying To Be Perfect
By Anubhav Srivastava (Register For His Workshop – Super Confidence For Super Success !)
Why you should stop trying to be perfect? We all have been imbibed with the idea that perfection is the ideal we should all look to. The reason we desire being perfect is that because we believe people won’t judge us if we don’t have any flaws and will embrace us fully. If we are perfect and appear perfect, then will we not be judged or criticized or that is what we believe. And if we are not perfect, the opposite will happen.
This manifests in many ways.
Every year millions of students across the globe are pressured and forced to top their exams and have a perfect score. This is especially true in countries of the Indian subcontinent where the parental pressure is so immense that some students even end up committing suicide because they feel they can’t match the expectations.
The same can be observed in many other areas, for example when it comes to body image. The idea that we should have perfect bodies, which has been reinforced by the media often forces many girls to follow through with extreme diets to the point that they begin to damage their bodies. Many develop eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia. In the quest for perfection they actually make their previously healthy bodies appear worse and not better.
The irony is that they forget that even the so called perfect bodies in the magazines they read are far from perfect. Through extreme make up, lighting, tan and Photo editing, imperfect people are made to look perfect. People with flaws are made to look like they have none.
This brings us to a conclusion, true perfection is not only unattainable, when it seems something is perfect, it is an illusion.
Here are reasons why you should stop trying to be perfect.
You cannot achieve it
Nothing in this world or even in the universe is perfect. Everything has flaws and you are no different from anyone else. Now perfect is not achievable but near perfect is. Instead of trying to be perfect, go for excellence or near perfect especially if there is low margin for error in the kind of work you do.
Trying to be perfect delays things for a LONG time
Now it is better to wait and get things near perfect, if let’s say you are sending a rocket into space or operating a flight or conducting a major surgery. In those cases compensating for all negative scenarios is actually a good idea. In most other cases, trying to be perfect just leads to a lot of wasted time. If you are someone who needs to meet deadlines , then trying to get things done perfectly will get you fired or lead to losses in your business. If your job requires speed over quality and some error can be tolerated as long as you are fast, do the best you can in whatever time possible and then just ship it!
Trying to be perfect might make you NEVER GET STARTED
This may seem weird but the quest for the most perfect result possible often leads to you not doing anything at all. Procrastination is not always because of laziness, it is also often because you are so overwhelmed with the job. When you only aim for perfection, you will overwhelm yourself and you will be scared because now you have set an almost impossible set of expectations for yourself. The fear of not matching those expectations will then lead you to either turning down the opportunity or never getting started at all! Click here to learn what to do when you have a hard time getting things done and want to be more productive.
Trying to be perfect leads to health problems.
I have already mentioned above who the quest for perfection leads to people actually abusing their bodies, especially when it comes to body image. But the biggest way in which being a perfectionist harms your health is through the stress. If you are always worrying about how you are going to get the most perfect result possible or are beating yourself up when the result is less than your expectations, you are going to pile on loads and loads of stress. And stress is the precursor to many of the serious health problems we are facing today, especially a lot of depression, anxiety and heart disease.
Trying to be perfect makes you feel unhappy and unsatisfied
Even if you do get a job done, if you are a perfectionist you are unlikely sit back, relax and enjoy the fact that the work is done. Instead you are more likely to keep eating your brains about how what you did was just not good enough. So here you are putting in extreme amounts of effort as compared to everyone else and you are still not able to celebrate your accomplishment thanks to your own mindsets.
What’s the point of doing something when even after getting it to completion you likely to feel anxious rather than happy. The ultimate goal of everything is to be happy. But unhappiness is what extreme perfectionism ultimately results in. Give it up.
Trying to be perfect annoys people around you
If you are a perfectionist you are likely to be so serious about life that you forget to have fun. And nobody wants to be around someone who is serious all the time. It’s boring, it’s annoying. If you are a perfectionist you are unlikely to see the light side of life and if you can’t see that you are not a fun person to be with. You may attain professional success but are not likely to have much of personal success.
Also a person who is an extreme perfectionist is not easy to work with. He is likely to expect everyone working with him to have the same standards of perfectionism as him. The problem is that is just not possible. Everyone’s general level of motivation or motivation with regards to a specific project is different. If you are an excessively demanding boss or colleague you are likely to have many confrontations with other people which is only going to make them lose respect for you . Even if the project succeeds, people will still remember how you made them feel rather than how much you paid them!
Conclusion.
While striving for perfectionism is a good trait at times because it emphasizes the importance of extreme excellence and minimizes error, when you take the idea to an extreme it does much more harm than good. In fact a good alternative to striving to be perfect is striving for excellence, because that is certainly attainable and ensures you do not compromise on the quality of your work. Perfectionism on the other hand brings with it loads of associated negative side effects. So ditch perfectionism. Unless you are in a profession where you just cannot afford even an absolutely tiny mistake, it is a good idea to do your best and move on and enjoy your life. Remember, DONE is better than perfect!
About the Author
Anubhav Srivastava is an author, motivational speaker and the director of Carve Your Destiny, a first of its kind inspirational documentary featuring some of the most famous personalities from diverse fields, who teach the viewers how they too can make all of their dreams come true. The movie itself has been seen on Youtube by close to a million people. Anubhav has also been featured in numerous International and India Media outlets such as BBC , The Times of India, Hindustan Times, Rediff.com, Leicester Mercury and many others.
For one on one consulting or a motivational workshop at your organization please email anubhav101@gmail.com . If you would like to write a guest blog post on Anubhavsrivastava.com you contact me on the same email address. Facebook: http://facebook.com/anubhav981
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