Perfectionism

Nothing is ever perfect, yet we push ourselves to be perfect or as close to perfect as possible. Even I must admit I push to be perfect in all I do. I want as few faults as possible in my videos and blog posts. If nothing is perfect, why do we push to be perfect? Why does a sports team think they could finish undefeated? Why can a student feel he/she can pass everything with the highest-possible grades? Why does a gamer think he/she can complete any game without taking any damage or dying in a game? It is because we push to be perfect all the time.

--- Perfectionism ---

Perfectionists think the best way to be fully satisfied with their work is to be perfect in all phases of our craft. If not perfect, then as close to perfect as possible. Perfection is the ultimate form of gratification. It means you've done everything absolutely right with no faults to speak of. Think of unbeaten sports teams- they won every game regardless of how they all played through the season. They didn't have to dominate every game, but they did the most important thing- win. Even in victory, however, perfectionism also relates to the fact that things can be done better and more efficiently. That can be pretty natural when you think about how you could have done something better. For example, you may be a basketball player that scored a lot of points for your team, but you may be upset because you missed a few layups or open shots.

A perfectionist always thinks he/she should be able to accomplish anything efficiently and have it all done as flawless as possible. Whatever "perfect" means to the person in question relates to what he/she deems perfect for a given task. You will need to do everything possible to do a certain task brilliantly. Doing things from a perfectionist's standpoint means doing things to a certain standard. Sometimes, going beyond a certain standard or standards.

Fear of Imperfection.

The one thing that gets to all of us is in making or having imperfections in our work. Realistically, we would like as few imperfections as possible- and I am not just talking about in fashion. I try to post my blog posts and videos with as few faults or forgotten content as possible. Whatever I post online is the best material I could post at the time of that post. Often times, I note I've made certain errors that must be corrected. Everything I put into my posts or videos is everything at my best level. Anything less than acceptable doesn't get posted or featured. My biggest fear is to have too many imperfections to where I felt I could have done a much better job than what I could have done in my very first post. Remember that I am in charge of myself, so there is little fear of me trying to publish something quickly and with professionalism and mastery of skill. However, I do feel like a school/college student, having to do everything right (or as close to right) as possible for the best results.

Imperfection vs. Just Being Sloppy/Lazy.

Is there a difference between imperfections and just being sloppy? Sure! Imperfections usually involve errors that can be corrected. Just messing up facts and content is purely unacceptable. Do you honestly want your published work to be full of errors and faults if you care so much about making quality content? Even if you don't care too much about what people think about your work, you at least want to work to make your material acceptable. Acceptable means... suitable and useful. The other side is just about posting something and not caring about what anyone thinks.

--- Am I a Perfectionist? ---

I think of myself often times as a perfectionist, but even I know I can do so much. I think too much about many things. So you can say I am a perfectionist... to an extent. I often edit and re-edit my posts using NoteTab as well as spell checking with Firefox. I care deeply about posting the best version of something the first time around so that I don't have to keep editing it all the time. If I have to edit something initially posted on a constant basis when I could have done almost everything right the first time, all I am doing is degrading the quality of my material as well as wasting your time. You (as a reader/visitor) deserve my best all the time because I hold myself to such high standards. If I am not doing my blogging at an acceptable level, I am just negatively wasting my creative energy to all of you, which is unacceptable to me.

--- Final Thoughts on Perfectionism ---

You can't let imperfections rule over you. You sometimes have to allow some imperfections to be made so you can make yourself a better person. I always feel learning from errors and imperfections help make us better. How can you make yourself better if you disallow yourself to have faults? Even the very best in any industry has had to overcome faults and shortcomings to eventually be great.





There is nothing wrong with being a perfectionist or having a perfectionist's mindset. However, don't allow yourself to be broken down by focusing too much on making everything extremely perfect. Just work to make everything as acceptable as possible. If there are any faults you have or have experienced, work to resolve those faults in future applications. Most important of all- don't let yourself down if you don't do everything perfectly right. Until next time, thank you for reading!

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