How has perfectionism been beneficial or detrimental to the individual professional?
Shobika quotes Volatire: “Perfect is the enemy of good.” In her experience, pursuing an unattainable ideal of perfection has been detrimental as it slows progress and reduces productivity. Instead, she says, achieving a satisfactory level of quality is more beneficial.
Girish disagrees. He sees perfectionism having driven professionals to master their skills, gain recognition, and achieve career growth. It has fostered a culture of excellence in problem-solving and continuous learning. He also sees the detrimental side: It can cause undue stress, burnout, and reduced productivity due to excessive focus on details and fear of making mistakes. It may also lead to missed deadlines and strained work-life balance.
Anupreet says a lot depends on the context. For instance, perfectionism will slow one down while building an application. You would never think it is ready and has room for more improvement. It’s more of a Need vs. Want story.
If the need is met, then it should be pushed to the next level. However, there are subjects you never compromise on, like customer cyber security. One must have that fine balance of judgment to understand where perfectionism becomes a deterrent.
Anees reminds that perfectionism is all about perspective: What’s perfect for me might not be perfect for someone else. He says one must look at the end objective while chasing perfection. If you put humongous amounts of effort into a minuscule end goal – then it’s useless; also, the ‘time to market’ is important Take Aamir Khan, the Bollywood actor often dubbed ‘Mr. Perfectionist.’ He pours his heart and soul into his movies, sometimes taking years to release one, striving for what he sees as perfection. Yet, despite his efforts, not all of his films strike a chord with audiences. This shows that one has to maintain the optimal ratio between efforts and output in the process of achieving perfection, explains Anees.
Harsh sees perfectionism as a double-edged sword for IT professionals. On the beneficial side, it drives individuals to constantly improve, learn, and refine their skills, which can lead to career growth and a strong reputation for excellence. However, it can also be detrimental if it leads to excessive stress, burnout, or an inability to complete tasks due to over-analysis and striving for an unattainable ideal. Striking a balance between striving for excellence and recognizing when a solution is ‘good enough’ is crucial for long-term success and well-being.
Yeshanew thinks beyond and says that that life is fundamentally about balance. Each interaction offers a chance to learn and grow; we must allow room for mistakes. Being comfortable with making errors is essential for continuous improvement; otherwise, the pursuit of perfection can be paralyzing.
While achieving our goals is important, we must recognize that there are many ways to approach a task, and obstacles are inevitable as we navigate our path. We learn from these experiences and add new perspectives to our toolkit, preparing us for future challenges.
Yeshanew strongly believes in viewing perfection as a shifting target in our aspirations. He suggests one must find balance in celebrating achievements while continually pushing the goalpost further to ensure that the desire to learn and execute remains vibrant.
He followed a practice of deleting and rewriting problematic code helped him refine his coding skills and produce better results without getting bogged down by initial errors.
Rohit avers that open systems create more opportunities for individual growth through 3 advantages. First, we have community-driven software problem-solving and create altruistic behavior patterns. Second, individuals have begun to be more engaged within their circle of competence. Third, with the development of AI models, the productivity curves are becoming more beneficial for individuals.
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Project Advantages with Perfectionism
