Perfectionism has gained popularity since circa 1989 [1] and increased over time until recently. The main cause for this significant incline is attributed to politics and changes in cultures that signified individualism and competitiveness. Behavioural change and aiming for perfectionism and high expectations were the immediate aftermath of this global change. According to the same source [1]

Perfectionism is broadly defined as a combination of excessively high personal standards and overly critical self-evaluations

It is also noticed that perfectionism and high expectations correlate to procrastination. A large proportion of individuals who procrastinate are perfectionists and vice versa. Holding unrealistic standards can lead to burnout very quickly. Therefore, this group usually tends to wait for the perfect moment to complete their daily tasks, run errands or make academic or professional contributions. 

At the workplace, perfectionists are expected to deliver at the same deadline set for everyone else. The mental penalty is very high. These days, Agile is a very popular methodology for team management and delivery cycles (aka. Sprint). The usual sprint is 2 weeks for delivering a feature or set of pre-defined tasks.

I came across a very exceptional and unique case where the agile sprint is set to one day (yes a single day). This company’s KPIs are very high where features are broken down into mini features that go from 3-amigos to production on the same day. Without going into the intricate details of the technical delivery (which was kept away from me due to confidentiality), members of the development team expressed their mental struggle (completely justifiable). Personally, I admire that the company’s technical team challenged assumptions and had the courage to define what Agile parameters work for them to maximise the gain and business profit, however, they completely neglected the impact of turnover when burnout damages the entire team. I will wait and see how it goes in the next 6-12 months before I jump to conclusions.

Even with the standard 2 weeks sprint, the deadline is set in advance and expectations for the whole team are managed in advance. However, not every brain is the same, perfectionists tend to pick up complex tasks and set the bar too high. Waiting for the perfect moment to start doesn’t help at all, if anything, it makes it worse. This is where anxiety kicks in. The brain is attacking itself and raising alarms of the fear. Fears of being late, incompetent. The long-winded process of evaluating the detrimental consequences of failure including the fear of how those we look up to perceive us. The fear of exposing our insecurity and knowledge gaps. The fear of auto-categorisation as low-performers [2]. 

In fact, low performance KPIs are more complex than they look. Reading the academic research is one thing but hearing personal stories can change your perspective on layoffs measures. This post for example has gone wild, claiming that the author was being let go after medical leave. This suggests that the most likeable person stays regardless of their delivery or performance while less likeable (critical thinkers) are pushed side-ways or fired.

Therefore, punishing ourselves out of fear of the unknown future does not justify our desire for perfection.

SO WHAT?!

I advocate for completeness not perfectionism. Being complete means you have grasped the matter fully and understand that everything is a trade-off. Cost vs quality, time vs security, learning new skills vs meeting delivery deadlines, self-care vs other’s perception.

Therefore, I’d like to invite you (if you are a perfectionist) to define what is perfect for you? Then challenge if it’s realistic! Then challenge if it’s achievable, then observe the tradeoffs you had to make.

Being complete means you can do everything to a satisfactory level. Being perfect is not something I can define because it’s not something I have witnessed. Everything has its flaws so are we.

P.S This post is not perfect but I have to tradeoff the time available to what I think is a very important topic that I personally need to hear as well others around me.