Why Being a Perfectionist is Stopping You from Being Productive

Perfectionism is typically motivated by a desire for greatness, yet it can backfire. There are three significant blunders that perfectionists frequently make.

First, they are frequently unable to delegate or identify any choice as unimportant, preventing them from acting quickly or delegating.

Second, they believe they have a moral obligation to overdeliver.

Third, they stick to practices that may no longer be beneficial to them. The first step toward solving these issues is to become aware of them. Perfectionists can also construct heuristics such as “if I have thought about this decision three times, I will make a call and get on with it,” determining which areas to overdeliver and which to meet expectations, and periodically assessing promises to ensure they are still helpful.

You’re hesitant to label decisions as “insignificant.”

Getting more done isn’t the goal of productivity. It’s all about what you accomplish. Perfectionism has three features that might make it challenging to prioritize the most critical activities.

There’s a case to be made that you should either make a quick decision or outsource the decision for minor judgments.