“Do your worst” and avoid the dark side of perfectionism

Long-time readers of my blog will recall that I’ve written several times about perfectionism getting in the way of productivity, as in this parable about perfectionism and an early post about the fear of imperfection.

In today’s New York Times there’s a short article suggesting that perfectionism can also lead to mental health problems like depression and compulsive behavior.

Unlike people given psychiatric labels, however, perfectionists neither battle stigma nor consider themselves to be somehow dysfunctional. On the contrary, said Alice Provost, an employee assistance counselor at the University of California, Davis, who recently ran group therapy for staff members struggling with perfectionist impulses. “They’re very proud of it,” she said. “And the culture highly values and reinforces their attitudes.”

(If that’s true it explains everyone’s favorite answer to that job interview question, “What’s your greatest weakness?”)

The article concludes by mentioning a group therapy exercise where the counselor had perfectionists slack off on purpose.  Did this bring about the end of the world or personal demise?  On the contrary.  People chilled out.

This reminded me of Neil Fiore’s advice in The Now Habit.  Imagine the worst that could happen if you failed at X (something like writing a killer paper, not defusing a bomb), and then picture what your next steps would be.  In other words, get familiar with the idea of life going on even if you’re less than perfect, because that’s reality.