Does perfectionism help you? It’s fine to do something to the best of your ability, but at what cost to your well-being and efficiency?

Do you have to be a perfectionist to be successful? Not necessarily. How many perfectionists try to be “too perfect” and fail to finish what they start? How many don’t start at all? There’s no evidence that perfectionists are more successful than their non-perfectionist counterparts. Given similar levels of talent, skill, or intellect, perfectionists perform less successfully than non-perfectionists because they try to obtain something that’s impossible to obtain. (more…)