Expecting your work to be perfect might seem like a desirable trait.  In reality, though, perfectionism kills productivity.  Not to mention, it can harm your relationship with yourself, artificially cap your potential, and cause you to get in your own way.

Today, I’m sharing the top 3 ways perfectionism kills productivity.

Top 3 ways perfectionism kills productivity:  Introduction

You might be wondering:  Why is a time management coach talking about perfectionism?

Here’s the thing.  Time management is about 80% MIND management.  Perfectionism is a mindset (cognitive/emotional) issue.  Perfectionistic tendencies definitely impact one’s ability to manage time effectively.  Therefore, they are incredibly relevant to the topic of time management.

Striving for perfection can FEEL justified and productive, but it often does more harm than good – both in terms of managing time, and in terms of a person’s wellbeing. I’ll share more about both in today’s article.

The origins of perfectionism

Before I dive into the top 3 ways perfectionism kills productivity, let’s take a moment to talk about its origins.

Psychology Today defines perfectionism as setting unrealistically high expectations for oneself or others, noting that it is often driven by internal pressures, such as a desire to avoid negative judgment or failure.

Perfectionism is a set of beliefs and learned behaviors that may falsely equate excellence and achievement with lovability, worthiness, and value as a human being.  If you’re someone who has perfectionistic tendencies, here are a few things to know:

• First, perfectionism probably became encoded in your brain fairly early on.  It was a series of beliefs and behavioral adaptations to help you survive and get your needs met.
• Those beliefs and behaviors may not be helpful now, but it’s also possible to change them (which is great news).
• Third, you are lovable, worthy, and intrinsically valuable as a human being, regardless of your achievements or failures.

If you know that perfectionism is getting in the way of your productivity and growth, help is available.  Hop on a call with me, and let’s talk about it.

And now, let’s get on with the top 3 ways perfectionism kills productivity.

Perfectionism often leads to overwhelm and procrastination

First up, perfectionism kills productivity by causing overwhelm and procrastination.  Achieving perfection is a tall order, and can feel like a LOT of work (or even feel impossible).  The desire to achieve very difficult or unrealistic results can easily trigger feelings of overwhelm.

When overwhelm is surging, procrastination often follows.  If you’re feeling overwhelmed, you usually don’t know where to start.  And if you don’t know where to start, you probably won’t.  That’s procrastination making an appearance.

Procrastination can show up for perfectionists for other reasons, too.  Maybe you don’t believe you’re capable of achieving the level of results you want.  Or maybe you’re afraid that you’ll try and fail.  Either way, you may avoid getting started or making progress at all.  Again, that’s procrastination at play, and it’s bad news for productivity.

Perfectionism falsely prioritizes “perfect” over “done”

The next way that perfectionism kills productivity?  It shifts the focus from getting things done to making them perfect.

Are there scenarios where it’s necessary to spend time and effort making something better and better?  Of course.  But for routine, everyday tasks and issues, it’s almost never necessary.

When you hyperfocus on perfection in everyday work and life, you end up spending 100% more time to make something 5% better.  Again, for super important projects or high-stakes proposals, that MIGHT be okay.  But for everyday work?  It unnecessarily saps productivity, stealing your precious time and energy to improve things that don’t matter that much in the end.

If you believe it has to be perfect, you’ll likely end up self-doubting, second-guessing, and repeatedly reworking what you’ve already done.  Sounds pretty unproductive, right?

If the thing is done, you have data that can help you make targeted improvements – ones that actually matter.  If it’s perpetually incubating in pursuit of perfection, there will always be something more to do before it’s “ready.”  Furthermore, you’ll be making tons of adjustments that YOU THINK matter, but may not matter at all to your clients or other interested parties.

By the way, it’s a fallacy that there is an objective measure of “perfect.”  There may be consensus around best practices, standards, and measures of success.  However, assessment will always be subjective, as long as human brains are involved.  That means that “perfect” is a moving goalpost.  If you’re always pursuing perfection, it’s like being blindfolded and playing “pin the tail on the donkey” when there is no donkey.

Perfectionism overemphasizes the potential consequences of failure

One of the interesting things about perfectionism is that the focus isn’t necessarily on high achievement.  Instead, perfectionism aims to avoid negative judgment or failure.  As I explained earlier, this is a result of learned beliefs and patterns of behavior that often equate your results with your worthiness or lovability.

If your brain is telling you that failure makes you unworthy or unlovable as a human being, then you’re going to feel like the stakes are pretty high!  In that way, perfectionism places a false emphasis on the potential consequences of failure. 

When your very worthiness is seemingly on the line, the idea of failure or criticism can feel incredibly scary.  No one wants to feel unworthy, unlovable, or not enough.  For people with perfectionism, the brain is wired to do whatever it can to avoid the results that will lead to those kinds of thoughts and feelings.

That might mean waiting to put something out there because it isn’t “perfect,” avoiding feedback because of how you’re afraid you’ll interpret it, procrastinating like I mentioned earlier, or never getting started or pursuing an opportunity at all.  All of those factors negatively impact productivity.

Scary stories your brain tells you

The perfectionistic brain might even offer up all sorts of terrifying, humiliating, or painful scenarios that could result from failure or criticism.  For example, I used to refuse to apply for promotions because I didn’t think I was qualified enough.  People would know that I didn’t get the promotion (if that were the case), and I thought I would feel so embarrassed, humiliated, and inept.  Would that ACTUALLY have been the case?  Only if I allowed it to be.

I also spent excessive amounts of time on my work because I was terrified to make a mistake or produce other-than-excellent results.  I criticized myself harshly when I or my work failed to meet idealistic expectations.  In short, perfectionism wrecked my time management skills AND my potential back then.

When you choose to view failure or feedback as an existential threat, you’re left with two choices:  Do it perfectly, or don’t do it at all.  That’s a tough spot to be in.

Top 3 ways perfectionism kills productivity:  Conclusion

Perfectionism is a result of adaptations by the brain that helped a person survive at one point.  However, perfectionistic behaviors often do more harm than good in the long run.  Today, I shared 3 of the top ways perfectionism kills productivity.  Here’s a quick recap:

• Often leads to overwhelm and procrastination
• Falsely prioritizes “perfect” over “done”
• Overemphasizes the potential consequences of failure

If you struggle with perfectionism and you know it’s hurting your productivity, I get it.  I was that way for a long time, too.  And while it takes time and effort to navigate and move beyond perfectionistic behavior, it is totally possible.  It’s also totally worth it.  If you’d like some help with overcoming perfectionism, let’s talk.