Is Perfectionism Holding You Back? Here's How to Break Free!

Do you ever find yourself spending more time chasing perfection at work than actually getting things done?

This year I had a coaching session with a customer who was facing a similar challenge.

Whenever he had a problem with code (he is a web developer), he'd become very stubborn, and insisted on finding the perfect solution, even if it meant delaying assignments for his clients.

Perfectionism can drive you to work hard, or to have attention to detail, but used to excess can actually become a problem. 

It can interfere with your productivity, leading you to become overly critical and demanding of yourself. 

This in turn, impacts your ability to provide good customer service, as you might be too focused on avoiding mistakes or flaws that you spend too much time on minor details, delaying work or missing deadlines.

That's why you don’t want it to become an obsession and get out of control.

So, if you are a bit of a perfectionist here are my top tips to push back against it:

1. Focus on progress, not perfection. Imagine you’re working on a presentation. Put the necessary content on all of your slides first, instead of perfecting each slide before moving on to the next one.
2. Identify the tasks that need attention to detail and the ones that don’t. For example, when writing an email to a customer, it's important to proofread it and make sure it's polished. However, when emailing a colleague, your email doesn't have to be absolutely perfect.
3. Set a timer, and decide the maximum amount of time you will spend on a task. Once the timer goes off, you need to move on to something else. This helps you avoid the trap of endless overthinking.

By overcoming your perfectionist tendencies, you can regain control of your time and be more productive.

What are the tasks where you normally tend to be a bit of a perfectionist?

Share them in a comment!

Thank you for reading,

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✅ I offer professional development workshops on a wide range of topics. Whenever you're ready, visit my website for more info or email me at sara@hodostraining.com to enquire.