The quest for perfection

On the drive back from Tahoe, I started to listen to an old podcast I liked in the pandemic times called Work Life by Adam Grant. The podcast covers different tips and tricks from a scientific standpoint on how to make work not suck. While many people can see perfectionism as a good thing, there’s clearly a lot of downsides in chasing something that is unattainable. This particular episode was around battling perfectionism in life and around the work place.

I wouldn’t call myself a perfectionist by any means today, nor when I was growing up. Although I would consider myself someone with perfectionist tendencies at times when I was younger. During my adolescence, I was scared to make mistakes both in school and outside of it. In high school, I played football and felt that one of the things always holding me back was that I played really tight… always scared to make a mistake although that was part of the game.

I don’t know if there was a specific trigger for me that changed, but I suspect that it had something to do with work and grad school. There really is no such thing as perfect in the tax and finance world, and uncertainty is just part of the game. I’ve also worked in a startup for the last 5 years where things often go wrong rather than right. We’re always operating at least a step below optimal.

Adam Grant did bring up a lot of topics that hit close to home though. Although not a perfectionist, I am definitely hard on myself like a perfectionist can be. I often feel that my life and work life needs to be a perfectly linear arrow pointing to the top right or else I’m failing. It’s an awful habit and has caused me a lot of self-confidence just like happens with a perfectionist chasing something unattainable.

Secondly, I’ve also realized how incredibly hard I am on myself on the golf course. In a game of imperfection, I’ve beat myself up time and time again for making mistakes. Beating myself up over making a bad or less than perfect shot usually results in more bad shots. In chasing perfection in golf, I’ve actually talked myself into thinking that I’m an awful golfer when in reality I’m fairly above average.

Grant and his guests he brought on suggested that instead of chasing perfection, you should simply chase constant improvement. I think I’ll be a much happier person both at work and on the golf course if I do that. My performance in both will likely follow suit.