Perfectionist vs. Professional

So today I would like to talk to you about being professional without being perfectionist. You say, one can’t go without the other? Well, I tell you, one doesn’t work with the other. You cannot be professional, if you are a perfectionist…I’ll explain:

The same old story, perfectionism, should be seen from two sides. There are those, who want to be super duper perfect, they are standing in their own way, they lose themselves in the detail and very soon don’t know anything anymore about the whole thing together. And then there are those, who just don’t care and deal with the things only on the surface and cannot concentrate on one thing. Both not a very good point for departure…

Well to the perfectionists: If I strive to perfectionism, I limit myself to a point. I learn and develop myself until the point, where I think now I am perfect. Or a diploma tells me, I would be perfect now, so I stop learning at that point, and I call myself even a professional in that area. And what happens after that? Well, in
the worst case, I stop here and just don’t develop anymore.

Or another type of perfectionist tells himself he has to do it right on the first try. He tries, does a simple and little mistake and totally penalizes himself, if he thinks he is not good enough.

And then those who just don’t care. Who just checks something out on a surface, after a short while is not in the mood anymore and goes to something new. Well, this guy is whether a perfectionist nor a professional. He just hangs out in his life on one and the other place without goals, without dreams and at the end of his life he just asks his self, what he did all those years along…not a nice outlook.

So let’s now talk about that guy, who just does it great on a middle way of all. This one would never see himself as perfect. He sacrifices himself to one thing, becomes professional and develops his skills all his life along. If you’d ask him, he’d say: „Perfectionist? Me? Oh god, no. There are way too many things still to learn, you never can become perfect. And anyway, a perfect person is in my eyes somebody, who wants to do it all right on the first try. I did this thing already a hell of thousand times and god knows, even the 1001. time I noticed a mistake. But that’s okay, you know what they say: It’s okay to fall down a hundred times, as long as you get up again 101 times…”

So as you can see, you should be professional without being perfectionist. This way you don’t stand in the way of your very own development…

With this little note I wish you a very professional but not at all perfect week…

Ildikó Varga