The What, Why, How and What If of Procrastination and Perfectionism
Are you a perfectionist? If you're trying to decide the best way to say yes, then you're a perfectionist.
Little joke there; very little, but a joke.
Okay, if you're a perfectionist, do you also procrastinate? And do you understand the link between procrastination and perfectionism? Maybe I should state it differently, as the link between perfectionism and procrastination, because it is the perfectionism that leads to the procrastination.
So let's look at that.
The What: Most perfectionists procrastinate.
There is definitely a link.
When you ask a perfectionist for a project, it will be exquisite when it's done, but it may not be done on time-in fact it probably won't be.
Because...
The Why: Perfectionists are never done with anything.
It has to be just right, and that means spending more time on it.
They don't procrastinate on purpose.
I mean, we don't.
But we do procrastinate because we're not satisfied with what we've done.
We're always going for perfect, and that puts us behind.
We don't know the meaning of good enough.
That's why we put procrastination and perfectionism together.
Now, I'm going switch the How and the What If.
You'll see why in a moment.
What If: What if we could have a lower setting of perfectionism for things that really do only have to be "good enough"? What if we didn't have to push ourselves so hard to get everything exactly right? How would that feel? At first it would feel pretty weird, but as we break the link between procrastination and perfectionism, we'd start to feel great.
We'd realize we can do good work-even great work-on time, if we can just relax our standards a little.
How: I'm not saying this is going to be easy, but again what if? What if we could lower our standards in one area, just one area, just for a week? Not drop our standards, but accept good enough.
One small area for one week.
Then evaluation and see how we're doing in terms of procrastination and perfectionism and quality of work.
Adjust as necessary, but be honest.
Is it working out? If it's not, do something different, but if it's going okay, then expand it to another small area for another week.
Breaking the link between procrastination and perfectionism won't be an instant process.
You will get frustrated and it will feel weird.
But it's important that you try.
Little joke there; very little, but a joke.
Okay, if you're a perfectionist, do you also procrastinate? And do you understand the link between procrastination and perfectionism? Maybe I should state it differently, as the link between perfectionism and procrastination, because it is the perfectionism that leads to the procrastination.
So let's look at that.
The What: Most perfectionists procrastinate.
There is definitely a link.
When you ask a perfectionist for a project, it will be exquisite when it's done, but it may not be done on time-in fact it probably won't be.
Because...
The Why: Perfectionists are never done with anything.
It has to be just right, and that means spending more time on it.
They don't procrastinate on purpose.
I mean, we don't.
But we do procrastinate because we're not satisfied with what we've done.
We're always going for perfect, and that puts us behind.
We don't know the meaning of good enough.
That's why we put procrastination and perfectionism together.
Now, I'm going switch the How and the What If.
You'll see why in a moment.
What If: What if we could have a lower setting of perfectionism for things that really do only have to be "good enough"? What if we didn't have to push ourselves so hard to get everything exactly right? How would that feel? At first it would feel pretty weird, but as we break the link between procrastination and perfectionism, we'd start to feel great.
We'd realize we can do good work-even great work-on time, if we can just relax our standards a little.
How: I'm not saying this is going to be easy, but again what if? What if we could lower our standards in one area, just one area, just for a week? Not drop our standards, but accept good enough.
One small area for one week.
Then evaluation and see how we're doing in terms of procrastination and perfectionism and quality of work.
Adjust as necessary, but be honest.
Is it working out? If it's not, do something different, but if it's going okay, then expand it to another small area for another week.
Breaking the link between procrastination and perfectionism won't be an instant process.
You will get frustrated and it will feel weird.
But it's important that you try.