Perfect. Perfection. Flawless. Faultless. Absolute. Just right. There are so many ways to describe this term. I typed some prompts into my favourite GenAI tool, Claude, and here is some of what it described to me:
“A state of absolute or ideal condition where nothing can be improved upon.” If I pushed and offered some examples of context, I got everything from without flaws, like a perfect diamond, precisely accurate, like a perfect score, or something that is absolute like perfect silence.
But does a perfect solution or perfect technique ever exist? How much in life can really be absolute or flawless?
The concept of perfection has been in my mind a lot lately, and I’m very troubled by it. It represents an ideal that many people strive for, but do they ever achieve it? Is it even possible, or really is it something we think about, imagine, but we can’t get there?
We throw around the term, perfect, too easily. From the day we are born, we hear it spoken. How many newborns are described as perfect? Oh, the grandmother says, when she sees her new grandson for the first time, he’s perfect! How many little girls grow up to look up to a Disney princess or later a pop star, as these women are so often described as perfect?
When we encourage our kids to study for a test or complete an assignment, how often do you tell them (or how often were you ever told as a kid), to set a goal of 80-90%? Maybe you know they can’t achieve 100%, but unconsciously are you programmed to want them to get a perfect grade?
In our professional lives, the word perfect is bandied around all the time. Is there a perfect job you’d love to have? How many times have you tweaked your resume, hoping, that this time it will be perfect? Think about a presentation you have put together, with 10 drafts and hundreds of edits? Did you update it striving for a perfect deck?
Let’s talk about data and databases. It seems like life today is built on millions (okay probably more like billions or trillions) of pieces of data. We want the data to be accurate, right? You want the data to help you find patterns or tell a story. We know the saying, that garbage in means garbage out. That’s the other extreme. But can our data be perfect?
While I believe most of us understand that perfection is an abstract concept that pushes us to achieve a quality result, I know many people close to me – family and friends – whose obsession with achieving perfection means they have trouble realizing their goals and don’t accomplish what they set out to do.
Perfection may be abstract, but the work, or task, or project, that must be completed, is very concrete! The achievement of perfection, in most cases, is also quite subjective. How many times have you been asked, how would you measure success? Or you may be asked, what does success look like to you?
There is no single, absolute answer, and that’s due, in part, because, whether we admit it or not, so many people are striving for perfection. One person may accept that success is a measurable quality result, and the next person may perceive that unless they can achieve something absolute, they have failed.
Take a customer service call centre as an example, where many metrics are tracked, including NPS – net promoter scores. NPS measures a customer’s loyalty. It looks at how likely a customer is to recommend the business. The customer is surveyed with a question, and the response is reported from minus 100 to plus 100. But is a higher score desirable, or does a business really want their agents to achieve 100 as often as can be? Will any NPS survey realize a perfect score, of 100, across the board?
The scores will help guide the business on where it needs to improve or where it should continue doing great work. Realistically, it is not about achieving a perfect score. It’s about a focus on quality, which will lead to successful results.
But, what about the people who are stuck on perfection? From the interactions I have had with people like this, striving for perfection is not isolated. Time is usually abstract to them as well, as they miss or ignore deadlines. They may come across as stubborn or incredibly obstinate, as they feel success is measured by something absolute, and yes, flawless.
How do we work with a person (or report to, or manage) who wants perfection? When it’s a family member, how do we live them? Does it affect a friendship when one person is always seeking the perfect restaurant or activity?
I am not an expert, and clearly, I have more questions than answers. From my personal experience, here are some thoughts when interacting with the person who wants perfection:
- Define what success looks like – find a happy medium, that is realistic. If the student thinks that only 100% on the test is what matters, then try to find a lower number (or series of numbers) where there can be reward and make them feel good. Make it measurable.
- Structure – if they don’t understand time, then create rules. If your employee is pulling all-nighters, because they want to deliver you the perfect deck, you need to ask them to focus on completing a task, or series of tasks within a specific time frame. Create small, achievable goals, where the person can see how good quality builds on good quality.
- Planning – I’ve been guilty of this one many times! If you want to help someone be successful, make a plan. If you want quality, then make a list of what it will take. Build a project plan with key milestones that should be achieved. Follow a recipe if you are baking a cake.
- Patience – Take a deep breath. We are not all built the same way. What looks easy to you, may be incredibly hard for your friend. It’s easy for me to write almost anything, and I know what good work looks like. But I’ve worked with many people who spend hours poring over an email or speech, hoping if they make one more edit it will be perfect. Help them. Support them. Remind them they don’t have to be perfect!
Practically perfect in every way comes from the movie, Mary Poppins. Do you remember where she says this? It’s when she is “measuring” each child, and the tape measure shares this statement with her. Maybe she represents the ideal concept, and for sure she helped show the Banks family what a better, quality life is. But, really, is she perfect?
Is anything perfect?
