Aimless Perfectionism

“If a man does not know what port he is steering for, no wind is favorable to him.” ~Seneca

You know, I think a lot about perfectionism. And sometimes, perfectionism seems to be unlogical. It seems to bear some paradoxons.

One example: A typical perfectionist’s fear of failure is always holding him back. It takes away possibilities to learn and explore. It sets artificial limits.

Well, paradoxons are always a clear sign of some logical fault, so I tried to find out what’s behind them. One key issue seems to be that lots of (or even most) perfectionists don’t seem to know what they define as perfect. They try to be perfect without knowing what being perfect actually means to them.

How effective can this possibly be? You have to be very lucky to move into the right direction to say the least! If your goal is not clearly defined, then you have no goal. In that case you’re on an aimless journey, my friend! You should think about your aim before starting to jump into random directions.

So what does being perfect mean to you? Which parts of yourself can be improved? How would you notice your improvement? Think about it.

Also ask yourself if your concept of being perfect is realistic. Unrealistic goals are about as bad as nonexistent goals. Your goals shouldn’t be dependent on chance either. Or which steps are you about to take to influence chance?

You may write your thoughts down. Having a list describing the perfect you would also be a nice idea. You could update it from time to time and check your progress.

Anyway, if you thought about your aim long enough, some paradoxons and other issues will start to disappear.

I did it myself and it helped big time to improve. For me, being perfect means being yourself and acting according to your beliefs. If you think about the example from the top of this article again you will see that this concept of perfection will do much better to get you through situations that would scare aimless perfectionists.

In fact, ‘failing’ will change its meaning if you change your concept of perfection. For me, ‘failing’ means not being yourself, not acting accordning to your beliefs in any particular situation. As you see, this is also a somewhat more stable goal. And it’s a goal that can be reached. What more can you ask for?