The reason I cleared my notepad

Yesterday, I started writing an article, and when I made it to more than a half, I just cleared my notepad. 

Wondering why?

Well, I Was having weird thoughts like, "No! it isn't right, it is missing something and that it isn't perfect". And eventually, this fear of not being perfect made me smash my hard work, Which made me sad, not because I had lost my content; As I could undo it( Thanks to MAC, influenced by the work of XEROX PARC), but because of the thought that I wasted my whole day for nothing.

Now today, when I revised the whole incident in my mind to check what went wrong yesterday, I realized that it was my unwanted desire to be a perfectionist. So I decided to discuss it in today's article. 

So, let's start

Now, If you consult the definition of a perfectionist, you will find out that a perfectionist is a person who has high standards( perfect to be exact). Well, of course, having high standards isn't wrong; In fact, it can lead you to success. But, Having standards no less than perfect; that's what can be problematic.

As in my last article, I said that you shouldn't go to extremes on either side(either good, either bad). Well, It applies here as well. Because, if you observe closely, you will see that a perfectionist demands the best of everything, no excuses, no leniency. And that's why it is an issue because, as humans, it's in our nature to make mistakes, no matter how hard we try, we can't be perfect; The only thing we can do is to learn from our mistakes and improve ourselves.

Perfectionists suffer because of their inflexibility in standards. And this inflexibility always gives them a hard time as they always live in fear; fear of loss, fear of disapproval and fear of failure.

If it's that bad, why it still exists?

 After this whole discussion( in fact blaming), you must be thinking that if it is that bad, then why it still exists, and why do people still want to be perfect. 

The short answer to this question is "Misunderstanding". 

The long answer is that; 

People have confused both the terms "Perfection" and "Perfectionism". 

Perfection is a quality that expresses the completeness and flawlessness of something, but the criteria of perfection vary from person to person. In other words, It isn't necessary that something that is perfect for someone, is also going to be perfect for others as well.

Perfectionism, on the other hand, means to struggle for the perfection of something and accept nothing but perfection. In simple words, the criteria of perfectionism remains the same for everyone.

let me explain it by giving an example

Suppose your friend was making a cake, you visited and tasted it and said "It's perfect", even though it wasn't completely baked yet. This is the example of "perfection" as even if it wasn't baked yet, still it wasn't missing anything(any ingredient).

But the fact that, caked isn't completely baked yet, indicates that it lacks perfectionism.

Sometimes perfectionism can seem to be a positive trait, but the fact is that it has a negative side as well. Because, as I stated earlier, we are humans, and we cannot be perfect. So, eventually, in a struggle to perfect everything, we will make it worse, which would also depress us. So it is better to hope for the best but be ready for anything.

Conclusion:

There is nothing wrong with perfection, desire for perfection in something is completely normal. But perfectionism,( demand for perfection in everything) as an obsession, is wrong. Because you will never be satisfied by the results, everytime there will be room for improvement. So, it's better not to stress yourself, try your best and accept what you get.

So, friends, here it comes to an end. 

I am not sure if what I wrote in this article was right or not. Even the example, I made it up by myself based on what I understood about perfection or perfectionism, so there is a chance that I might be wrong. Feel free to suggest me anything, as there is always a room for improvement.

As I am pretty curious about this article, I would really appreciate if you guys could review it in the comment box.

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