Perfectionism has been on my mind for awhile. Are
moms and
women born perfectionists?
How many of you are perfectionists? Everything has to be just right before you can say “I’m finished.”. Do you find that it helps you or hurts you? While dotting all you i’s and crossing your t’s is admirable, is the effort worth the result?
Lately, I have been examining how I approach my writing. Usually, I research everything, cover all angles, and grapple with whether the topic is really noteworthy. In the end, I am left with an excellent article but the investment of my time and effort has been huge. Also, for every idea that I actually write about, there are probably a bunch that I scrapped.
What if I had just let the ideas flow? Perhaps the quality of the articles would not have been as good. Definitely, not as well researched and authoritative. But I would have expressed my opinion, encouraged discussion, and maybe a new idea would have grown out of the old.
Meanwhile, other bloggers are downright prolific. Everyday, several times a day, even, they write well thought out and meaningful posts. Where do they find the time and ideas? What I am learning is that sometimes you just have to barrel ahead. Some things will flop but other concepts will take off. You won’t know until you try. And if you wait until everything is absolutely perfect. Well, it probably just won’t happen.
As to the question that I first posed - are moms and women more likely to strive for perfectionism? In my opinion, the answer is yes. Maybe it is just in the nature, or maybe it is just the people that I know. But it seems to me that women are held back by perfectionism more than men.
And no, I don’t think that perfectionism is a curse. In the end, it serves us well. If we can develop a better product, write a better article, or be the best at whatever we set out do, we will have more success. However, if we strive for perfection before we even get started, then we may never even give ourselves the chance to be perfect.
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