You’ll have more time for other things. Accepting the reality of imperfection frees up time you can spend on other projects, or on the “life” part of your work-life balance.
You’ll feel better. Seeking perfection stresses you out. Stress can contribute to or cause insomnia, depression, and a myriad of physical problems, from ulcers to high blood pressure.
You’ll be happier. If you stop obsessing, you’ll enjoy your life and job more. The same is true of your team — if you don’t push them too hard, they’ll find it easier to maximize their Return on Investment and productivity.
You don’t worry about making a mistake. You can account for the expected only up to a point, so what’s the point of angsting over what might happen?
It helps you realize life itself isn’t perfect. How could it be? You’re fighting a universe full of chaos. Every time you edit a manuscript, you risk introducing new errors. Your best programmer may get sick in the middle of a project. A tornado might destroy your office. Control what you can and accept the rest, or risk exploding from sheer frustration.
You can’t control other people’s imperfections. While you can encourage team members to push themselves toward greater performance, you can’t force them to do anything if they don’t want to.
You’ll appreciate near-perfection when it occurs. On rare occasions, everything will click and your team will produce something as near to perfect as humanly possible. These events provide high water marks you can shoot for later. Similarly, you more easily recognize excellence when it occurs in other venues.
You’ll be able to grow. Perfection is static, as is the obsessive pursuit of it. If you stay in one place, how can you grow your career?
It sets boundaries on what you shouldn’t do. Refusing perfection lets you say “no” to things you don’t have time for.
It helps you accept change more easily. You can’t effectively field change when dogged by perfectionism. Sometimes we don’t know the best way to approach a new situation, and we just have to move.
Author and Credits: Laura Stack