To achieve perfection, you must become a perfectionist.
WHAT IS A PERFECTIONIST?
Soooo, what is a perfectionist and would you say YOU are one?
- a person who refuses to accept any standard short of perfection.
In which case, I guess an equally appropriate and necessary question would be- what is perfection?
- having all the required or desirable elements, qualities, or characteristics; as good as it is possible to be.
I AM a perfectionist. However, my perfection and your perfection are probably two different things. My ‘desirable elements’ will more than likely differ to yours, perhaps only slightly but possibly greatly.
PERFECTIONISM vs TIME
I have found the problem with perfection is time. I WANT to make things perfect. I will write something 6 times. TRY 1: misspelt something -TRY 2: forgot my capital –TRY 3: writing going up at 45° angle- TRY 4: writing going up at a 5° angle- TRY 5: don’t like the way I’ve written ‘the’- TRY 6: misspelt something ,forgot my capital, writing going up at 45° angle, don’t like the way I’ve written ANY of this stupid shopping list (kidding)…(maybe!).
So, perfectionism takes time. When I was younger, A LOT younger, 13, I had a job waitressing. I gained the nickname ‘flash’. I can laugh at this now however I still feel nicknaming a 13 year old girl (behind their back, who worked bloody hard, if not a little slowly) a bit of an arse-ish thing to do- probably why I’m writing about it now! Hmmm maybe I CAN’T laugh at this now!!! Anyway my point is, when you can’t achieve that perceived perfection in the time required somethings got to give. I left.
GIVE AND TAKE
So, returning to my first point, having written said shopping list (still joking, wasn’t REALLY a shopping list) 6 times, I have unfortunately run OUT of time. As well as this I am in a right pissy mood because I’ve wasted this time on something so POINTLESS. In addition I have not done the dishes, cooked dinner, cleaned the kitchen or gone to the toilet, both children have woken up and are crying, so in this futile bid to gain perfection, I have made my life ten (maybe one hundred) times harder.
I find Perfectionism involves so much give and take. The time and energy you give trying to make something just so, invariably takes away from something else. In short:
Trying to make something perfect, makes something else imperfect and generally a bit shitter and has to be rushed OR sometimes (often) the other thing(s) are not done at all.
PRECONCEIVED IDEAS
As I mentioned earlier, I think we all have differing views on what makes something perfect. Tough. Subjective shiz is always a grey area, isn’t it? A preconceived idea of how something should look/ be achieved, is probably the top course of arguments in our household. ‘Are you going to use THAT pan to cook the bolognaise in?’ Mainly though, it is down to me being so constrained in my quest for perfection that I cannot see, at that moment, that another way (my husbands way) can achieve results that are just as good but that are different (we’ll ignore the time he put anchovies in the sausage pasta, something that has been a blight on his culinary calling ever since and his cutting in…which is just inconceivable).
DOES IT MATTER?
So why is this my blog subject? I guess at a time when I am finding my time is stretched more than ever, it is a question of asking, when to drop it? It is a time for re-evaluating my methods and opinions. I need to accept when something good, is good enough (could diverge into teaching rant, but won’t!). Does it matter? Does it matter if the cutting-in line isn’t straight? Of course it does. I mean NO…does it? At what point in the 6 x writing fiasco would you have stopped?
My long winded point is: Perfectionism has not made things perfect.
Perfectionism caused a heap of wasted paper, a dirty kitchen, starving children, arguments with the husband (and we won’t mention the not going to the toilet thing)…so if being a perfectionist doesn’t make things perfect then what will? I think, for me, I need to become content with good, even great, but not strive for perfection…
…unless I’m going to be paid loads- then and only then- I shall.
Fine Artist 