Oct 21st, 2020: Perfectionism, A Double Edged-Sword

Don't Be A Perfectionist Or Else You'll Never Get Anything Done, EVER - By Scott Bradlee - Postmodern JukeboxPostmodern Jukebox 
 
Perfectionism is a struggle that many business leaders have to work through in their daily activities. They have some ideas about what they are struggling with and yet finding it hard to overcome it. Some people would say that it is a double-edged sword because perfectionism does motivate us to raise our performance level and our work quality. Yet, it can create tremendous anxiety that brings about procrastination.

Harvard Business Review mentions the following challenges in an article about how to manage our perfectionism. Let us have a look at them with my reflections.

See the big picture: when we fail to see life beyond the confinement of our fear and interests, perfectionism will slow us down because of our pride. When we are able to see the big picture, our aim for excellence is about seeing the beauty of God in both successes and failures. We need to shift our mindset so that it is no longer about us but about God and how He is going to accomplish things through us. Perfectionism can reduce the scope of how to understand God and ourselves.

Adjust our standards: this can sound like a negative thing if we view it as lowering our standards. When we set an impossible standard for ourselves, we stop the process of learning from taking place. In our journey with God, faithfulness is far more important than perfection. We have seen many new believers who became discouraged because they think that they have failed God by not being perfect. Learning to grow in our faith is far better than trying to be perfect in our faith.

Get perspective: that is why we need to belong to a community. Many leaders find it hard because asking for help can be perceived as a sign of weakness. Being honest to ourselves and to others in what we are working through in our lives is also more beneficial than being perfect. Make sure we give some people the privilege to keep us accountable when we fail to do so. Be aware of our defensive mechanism because that might just fail us further.

Matthew 19: 21
"Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me."

 

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