Perfectionism is a pain. To many it doesn’t sound like a problem, to some it sounds like a nice problem to have. But in reality it’s anything but positive.
Perfectionism is fear, the fear of failure. Either you do it the best way or you don’t do it at all. It’s the fear of making the wrong decision, or even just a suboptimal one, and having to deal with the consequences.
Perfectionism is paralysis. Getting stuck figuring out the best ways to do something, how to be more efficient, use the least effort, or take the least time. Finding the best resources to learn from. Creating a bulletproof plan. You waste so much time doing all these things that you never actually do the thing you want to do so perfectly. It’s analysis paralysis: you try to make the most informed decision, you consider almost every avenue available and scrutinize it. It sounds like a good thing, but for a perfectionist it’s easy to get stuck trying to make the right choice. You never start, and if you do, you agonize over every small detail. Every little step has to be perfect before moving on to the next one. It eats into your time, it makes you slow. Interestingly, it makes you less efficient. It makes you picky; you’ll never be satisfied with your own solutions, let alone anyone else’s, so as another side effect it could even erode trust.
Perfection is unattainable, and often its pursuit will ironically keep you further away from it. It can be a good thing to strive for, but ultimately you’ll never get it. It’s possible to aim for perfection and land on excellence instead. But perfection will always elude you. It’ll never be the perfect time, you’ll never have the perfect conditions. Those require a kind of control over life that’s literally impossible to obtain. Being diligent and thorough are generally good things. Just don’t overdo it. It’s good to do your best, but it’s equally important to just do.