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Perfectionism

How do I deal with perfectionism?

Perfectionism is using an unreachable standard as protection against judgement. It reliably reduces output, because unstarted work cannot be criticised and unfinished work is never final — which is the actual purpose it serves.

What to do about it

Ship one thing at eighty percent this week and let it be seen.

How people say it

Nobody looks this up by its clinical name. These are the ways it actually gets said.

  • nothing I do is good enough
  • I cannot finish anything
  • I redo it a hundred times
  • afraid to show my work
  • perfectionism is ruining my life
  • I never start because it will not be perfect
  • high standards or procrastination

Written by Brian Spiker, who has run Spiker Carpet and Tile Care since 2013 — the receipts. More terms in the encyclopedia.

About the author

Brian Spiker has run Spiker Carpet and Tile Care since 2013 — a real service business with real customers, real Google reviews, and 13 years of work most self-help authors will never do.

He writes the way operators talk: brutal, funny, and built from work that actually has to get done. Verify everything at spikercarpetandtilecare.com.