In the world of operational management where you need to keep numerous plates spinning, it may be difficult to see how you can ever finish anything. The reality is, we probably do but the process to completion is more incremental. It goes without saying that the workload involved in operational roles at the moment remains relentless and there is no chance of that slowing down any time soon, but perhaps we need to help ourselves a little along the way.

I remember thinking that when I was younger I was no good at colouring in, and all I could see were the slight coloured pencil marks which had gone outside of the thick black outline. I also recall playing in a netball match at school where I had gotten upset at half time because I didn’t think I was playing very well – my position was Goal Attack and so felt the pressure was on to help get the ball in the net. In one of the previous games, our team had won 10 – 0, of which 9 of the goals I had scored. All I needed to do in the match where I was upset with myself was to score one goal – one goal and I would no longer feel like I had failed. Because that’s how I measured success at that time – if I scored, I had played well; not really understanding back then that you can still play well and contribute to the team’s performance without needing to score. 

I recognise similar traits over the last few years too which, for whatever reason, have showed themselves. If I’ve only walked 8000 steps in a day when in my mind I should be doing 10,000 then I’ve not done very well; or if I’m trying to record myself singing and I hear an ever so slight wobble in my voice, the delete button gets pressed and I start over (multiple times). Some scenarios are hard to manage when you identify a perfectionist streak within you, and the work-place is no exception. I recall someone very wise once saying to me that ‘sometimes good is good enough’ and although it’s stuck with me, it’s a nugget of advice I struggle to enforce myself.

Often we don’t take the time to celebrate success enough, because the next task, goal or standard is on the horizon, and that’s where your focus is encouraged to be. Similarly, we have the tendency to remember the negative moments rather than the positive but if you have a little bit of perfectionism within you then this can become quite debilitating. 

When I was out walking recently, I was listening to the podcast ‘Happy Place’, hosted by Fearne Cotton. For this episode, Fearne was interviewing Rhonda Byrne, author of ‘The Secret’ and they were discussing the power of the mind and managing negative thoughts. One point during the podcast caught my attention and I had to play it back to listen to it again – Rhonda said ‘don’t believe one single negative thought because none of them are true.’ I continued listening and after a moment, I stopped to think about it and felt so much lighter. 

At this particular time, I had been being highly critical towards myself over something so minor in the grand scheme of things. No-one else was being the critical voice – it was all me, and when I talked these thoughts through with someone, there was no evidence for feeling how I was feeling. They also balanced my perspective by flipping to the other side of the coin, but again, it was a result of the perfectionist inside – something didn’t quite go 100% as I had liked and so I was metaphorically beating myself up.

It’s more than ok to have high standards but no-one is 100% perfect – no-one will always do or say the right thing. Perfectionism is an illusion which doesn’t exist so you just have to remain realistic, and remember that ‘almost perfect’ or ‘good’ is still a job well done.

The Perfectionist

Perfectionism is an illusion,
That doesn’t really exist,
But when you are ‘all or nothing,’
The perfectionist in you persists,

They will tell you things aren’t finished,
They will tell you you’re no good,
They will you what you can and can’t do,
The things you didn’t do and the things you should,

A perfectionist can be lonely,
Reluctant to try anything new,
Staying safely within their comfort zone,
Which equally leaves them feeling blue,

No-one is ever perfect,
No matter how hard they try,
We all learn from making mistakes,
And in time these will help you fly,

You’ll never beat perfectionism,
So maybe relax your view,
Just focus on doing the best you can,
Just focus, simply, on being you.