productivity strategies

Don’t Allow Perfection to Hinder Productivity

Productivity isn’t simply about doing more. It’s about what you accomplish.

Productivity isn’t merely about accomplishing more. It’s about what you achieve. Three elements of perfectionism can disrupt your capacity to focus on the most crucial tasks.

1. You hesitate to label decisions as “trivial.”

It’s suggested that you make a quick choice or delegate the decision for trivial decisions.

However, perfectionists struggle to label decisions as trivial. They prefer to maintain control over all aspects. Why? Because flaws disturb them more than others. If something fails, perfectionists may experience intense frustration or a persistent irritation that’s difficult to overlook, and they are unwilling to take that chance.

At times, perfectionists are so used to micromanaging that it doesn’t even cross their minds that any decision is trivial. They are oblivious to it. They routinely and instinctively categorize everything as deserving of their complete attention.

Solution:

In contemporary life, decision fatigue can be overwhelming. A perfectionist can learn to enjoy relinquishing control over certain choices if they notice how pleasant it is to be free from the burden of decision-making. Consider using heuristics for quick decisions or delegating with the belief that you will achieve much faster and fairly good outcomes, though not flawless. For example, one of my heuristics is: if I’ve contemplated doing something three times, I will proceed without more consideration. For an effective decision-making matrix, refer to this tweet.

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2. You sense a moral duty to exceed expectations.

The idea that you must surpass expectations in every scenario can appear in various forms.

Imagine someone proposing to pay you $1,000 for a service. Delivering $1,000 worth of value may be insufficient if you have perfectionist tendencies. You might believe you should offer what others charge $1,500 for, aiming to excel. You think: “If I don’t exceed expectations, I’m falling short.”

Or if you assess that 24 hours is an acceptable period to reply to a coworker’s email, you might raise your benchmark to six hours. The crucial point is that you think what’s typically reasonable doesn’t pertain to you, and your standards must vary.

This mindset sometimes arises from a desire for an excessive safety net; for example, you believe “if I strive to provide 1.5X or 2X value for all the services I offer, then I will never under-deliver.” It may also stem from anxiety, insecurity, or imposter syndrome; for instance, you feel that the only way to avoid disappointing anyone is by consistently exceeding expectations. Perfectionists can also fear severe repercussions if they fail to over-deliver; for example, they fret that a client won’t wish to collaborate if it takes a day to respond to an email request, even if it’s a non-urgent matter and they’re pleased with everything else.

Solution:

Create a strategy for adjusting if you recognize these thought patterns. Comprehend what it’s costing you to pursue outperformance consistently. What other areas lack your time, energy, attention, and willpower? Perhaps your well-being, your major goals, or your family. If the costs are considerable, consider setting a guideline for when you’ll over-deliver. For example, you could determine that you will in three out of ten instances where you feel the urge, but not in the remaining seven.

Context-specific habits can benefit you as well. For example, suppose a reporter submits more than six questions for an article. In that case, I typically respond to six or so questions thoroughly and either provide brief answers or omit the rest. (I likely give superior responses using this approach because I concentrate on the topics where I have the most compelling insights.)

3. You become overly frustrated when you aren’t entirely consistent with positive habits.

When perfectionists aim to adopt new habits, they usually fall into one of three groups. They take on more than they can handle, making their plans too burdensome to manage; they refrain from beginning any habit unless they’re entirely confident they can achieve their goal daily, resulting in procrastination; or they only commit to habits they can follow consistently regardless of circumstances.

Flexibility is a key aspect of mental well-being. You must be able to skip a gym session when you’re unwell or just returned from a late trip, even if it disrupts a streak. You should also be able to move away from habits that were previously crucial to your productivity or skills enhancement but that you’ve surpassed. Perhaps as a novice blogger, you promised to post three times weekly, but now that’s exhausting you, or as a new real estate investor, you consistently went to a monthly meetup, but now it offers you minimal value.

At times, the more disciplined action (straying from a deep-rooted habit or behavioral pattern) can resemble the less disciplined choice (allowing a pause). However, when traditional self-discipline shifts into compulsion, perfectionists might be hindered by it.

Solution:

Establish a method to ensure you’re not adhering to a habit merely due to an excessive regard for self-discipline. If you haven’t skipped a workout in two years (or any other routine), there were probably occasions when completing it wasn’t the most effective use of your time. Frequently assess the opportunity cost of any actions or habits you faithfully pursue to verify that they remain the best application of your physical and mental energy. Your productivity will increase as you practice some of these ideas.

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