Sure it's natural to want to do a good job and set high standards. But when you carry it to perfectionism, you create inefficiency. Here's how:

• You spend more time than you need getting something done. I know a woman who spent a week (including two 24-hour days) developing a quote for a client because she was afraid of making a mistake. She was so tired, she fell asleep in her staff meeting and a client sales call. She was so obsessed with the project she didn't return other client calls. Her staff was so fearful of making a mistake on this project and others, they didn't tell her when something went wrong. Then the company had to deal with another set of problems.

• You procrastinate. Another same woman I know puts off working on something until the deadline is right around the corner. "I took home a very important project every night for a week intending to work on it after dinner then carried it back to the office in the morning untouched," she told me. "The night before it was due I went into the office developing this spreadsheet, coming up with more details, better looking graphs, improving and changing it all through the night. As people came into work the next morning and saw me wearing the same clothes from yesterday, they thought I was a hero."

  Sometimes people can create feelings of inadequacy about themselves, says Dr. David D. Burns, author of Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy in the same article. Perfectionists tell themselves, "I'm not good enough." Then "perfectionism becomes a badge of honor with you playing the part of the suffering hero," he says.

• You try to do it all yourself. A man I work with is so afraid of making a mistake he doesn't trust anyone else to get things done. Even when he hands over work, he annoys his staff by constantly asking how things are going and criticizing every move they make. As a result he gums up the works and tries to do everything himself.

  How can you turn this obsessiveness into an effective work habit? 1) Admit what you do. Notice how you get caught up in the minutia, try to do it all and second guess yourself. See how you waste time and are inefficient. 2) Examine what the greatest contribution you can make to a project is. Is it dealing with the client? Being available to others if something goes wrong? Checking in with others halfway through the project to see how things are going? 3) Set standards for your staff or team members and explicitly communicate what you expect them to do and by when. Then let them do it.

  Now you're free to go do your part to the best of your ability, with the best intentions and the goal to meet the highest possible standards (with possible being the key word here.)

  © by Andrea Kay

  I want you to be able to search and share information on my site. That's why I offer this feature below so you can refer this page to your friends. However, all of my content, including these articles, are copyrighted and may not be sold, transferred, published, displayed or distributed for any other purpose. See Terms of Use for more information.

  ---

  Refer this page to a friend!
  Click on the button below and send him/her this link and a personal message.
  
  

  ---