Week 30 - Using perfectionism to our advantage

This week, Tyler discusses how perfectionism can aid in reaching high levels of performance and excellence.

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Perfectionism is a quality possessed by many. It’s the unwillingness to accept anything less than a person’s absolute best, or constant striving for “perfection.” The reality is, however, that perfection is unattainable. There will never be a point where the end result meets a perfectionist’s expectations. Nothing will ever be good enough. For me personally, this was something I really struggled with in University. At the time, I had aspirations to apply to a very competitive professional program. When it came to writing exams, nothing less than an A/A+ would suffice. When the results didn’t meet my expectations, it left me feeling completely helpless. Self-doubt, self-judgement, and self-criticalness immediately followed. Unfortunately, these are consequences of perfectionism. However, perfectionism doesn’t have to necessarily be a bad thing. Today, I’m going to discuss how people can use their perfectionistic qualities for good rather than letting it overcome them.

Degrees of perfectionism are possessed by all high performers. Michael Jordan, Steve Jobs, Tiger Woods, Serena Williams. These individuals spent hours and hours honing their craft to ensure it was the best it could be. I take issue with others suggesting perfectionism is a bad thing. If people didn’t have high expectations for themselves in terms of what they want to achieve, they would never experience greatness. It is precisely this reason why high performers like those mentioned above are at the top of their respective games. Perfectionism is required to reach extraordinary levels of excellence and performance.

How can we use perfectionism to our advantage, rather than succumbing to perfection like my earlier example? I have come up with a few different ways:

1. Use dis-ease as fuel: If perfectionists don’t reach their perceived expectations, they are often left with a feeling of dis-ease. Rather than viewing dis-ease as something negative, view it as something pushing you as fuel to ensure different outcomes in the future.

2. Recognize deficiencies: Use where you want to be to your advantage. Recognize your deficiencies to find areas to improve today.

3. Find solutions to improve deficiencies: Once someone recognizes where they are and where they need to be to meet their expectations, find ways to improve areas of weakness to make them a strength.

4. Set lofty expectations: Set expectations that are difficult, yet still attainable. Push your personal boundaries to become the best you can be.

5. Be better than you were yesterday: Perfectionists strive to become better, even following success. Use perfectionism to become better than you were yesterday.

Remember -- Perfectionism doesn’t have to work against you. In fact, perfectionism can push you to become the best you can be. It can allow you to reach levels of performance and excellence that you didn’t think were possible. Don’t let maladaptive perfectionism, such as self-doubt, self-judgement, or self-criticalness stymie your improvement following perceived failure. Instead, understand perfectionism’s adaptive qualities and use it to your advantage.

Question: How can perfectionism be used to your advantage in your life?

Until next week,

Tyler

Twitter: tcmakepeace

Website: tylermakepeace.substack.com

Instagram: tylertalks.blog

ICYMI: Check out last week’s article below!

Week 30: What's your mission?