Every situation has a silver lining – discover a mindset that heals and enlightens.
August 16, 2021 · 7 min read
If you look for perfection, you'll never be content. - Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina
Both procrastination and perfectionism are identical terms that have similar consequences.
How could perfectionism become a hurdle in the way to achieve goals?
How could we relate both terms as part of the same equation?
The answer is quite simple that perfectionism is producing procrastination. However, perfectionism is not an inherent ability that humans could own in their genes.
In fact, perfectionism is a skill that we could earn with consistent efforts and after going through various life experiences.
But with time procrastination masks perfectionism and takes overall control of your performance.
What is perfectionism?
Perfectionism is a positive trait that can enable a person to achieve goals in a perfect manner without conducting a single mistake.
People with a perfectionistic attitude always tend to get extraordinary results without concerning about the amount of energy and efforts.
In fact, they believe in getting the perfect final product rather than caring about the process. People belonging to the perfectionism category could go beyond the limits by investing their potential efforts in every task.
But we can’t ignore the loopholes of adopting this behaviour. This behaviour could exceed the chances of success but on the other side, perfectionism could offer devastating outcomes.
So, people usually waste their time in pursuit of perfection and face failures as a final product.
The reason behind their failure lies in the over-efficient nature, self-criticism, feeding anxious and depressing thoughts that ultimately result in a toxic mindset.
Therefore, perfectionism and procrastination are considered two sides of the same equation.
These two factors are responsible for your poor performance and incapability to cope with deadlines.
Perfectionism leads to Procrastination
Can you imagine that your perfectionism could switch to procrastination and will only leave regrets for you? I know, nobody is concerned about this transformation.
You can trust me, it’s real. This cycle could ruin your productivity and will distract you from your track.
As a result, anxiety, and depression will try to become your partners along with a dangerous monster that will panic every situation. This cycle is watering seeds of disappointment and hopelessness in our lives to deprive us of our destinations.
A perfectionist believes in the ability to deal with every task perfectly. Of course, perfection could help to accomplish various tasks within a limited time span.
I abhor the idea of a perfect world. It would bore me to tears. - Shelby Foote
But with time perfectionists become over-confident and start delaying tasks with the hope that it will only take a few hours to complete the task.
As a result, when deadlines approach, and they don’t know how to tackle the task, then anxiety and depression will start subduing their thinking ability.
Therefore, the linkage between perfectionism and procrastination is very obvious.
People run short of time and will confront failure and embarrassment in the public. So, this is how perfectionism and the procrastination cycle is ruling over our minds.
The Negative Impacts of Procrastination
Procrastination could become a roadblock in your way of success. There are various negative impacts of procrastination that will surprise you. Let’s discuss a few negative impacts here.
- It will dominate your thinking ability and will blur your all visions
- It will lead you towards your comfort zone. Your comfort zone will stomp your growth by offering you cheap entertainment and fun. This will result in slowed or non-existing self-growth
- Capable to present all tasks with an impossibility and will try to ensure that you’re not good enough to perform this task perfectly
- You may experience a complete distraction from your goal
- It will try to convince you that your goals are not extremely important in your life and you can spend your life without achieving these goals
When all the details fit in perfectly, something is probably wrong with the story. - Charles Baxter
- You may confine yourself to a safety shell with a set of fears and limiting beliefs
- Overthinking will become part of your skin and it will drive you toward negative consequences in every situation
- Self-doubts, self-criticism will overcome your confidence
- Will provoke a feeling of embarrassment and not good enough feeling within you
- You may prefer to work perfectly which will not turn out too well in the long run
- Procrastination will become a source of peaceless and anxious life
Importance of Scheduling and Having Realistic Goals
If you have a firm belief that you can turn your all dreams and ideas into reality, then you can only become successful in life by adopting the strategy of successful people.
This strategy is the essential ingredient in the recipe for success and avoiding perfection and procrastination effect.
For that purpose, you have to schedule everything in life that you’re going to attempt.
People with realistic goals:
- Could achieve all impossible goals by splitting them into short-term goals. Short-term goals are quite easy to achieve as compare to long-term
- Setting goals and making a specific schedule help them to work consistently
- Become open to challenges and approach risky tasks to recognize their capabilities
- Setting time for every task always result in positive consequences rather than doing a task without a direction
- With every time limit can achieve a task and can move to the next task by setting another time limit for another task88
8 Successful Tips to deal with Perfectionism and Procrastination
I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection. Excellence I can reach for; perfection is God's business. - Michael J. Fox
The perfectionism that lies within you provokes procrastination. In order to cope with that, you have to get out of the tantrums of perfectionism.
Every problem follows a specific solution.
1.Believe in your self-worth
You’re capable to do everything that you want in your life. This is because you have a secret potential that is hidden within the layers of your self-doubts.
Yes! I am addressing you who is reading to seek a solution for procrastination.
Remember in a flash all tasks that seemed impossible to you at that time. But, what happened when you saw all your hard earned results?
At that moment, you become a champion. So, go through your all previous achievements that embarked a sensation of pride within your mind.
You have enough potential to perform flawlessly in every task. But, do not let self-doubts overcome your self-worth. You got everything to meet the requirements of your task.
You just need to initiate the journey with higher hopes and self-confidence. Your self-confidence will help you to defeat procrastination and achieve exceptional results.
2.Split your tasks into mini-tasks
I want you to smile or laugh loudly if you’re also addicted to working on projects near deadlines.
The louder laugh will witness that you have the habit of doing tasks on the last day.
You’re not alone, because millions of people adopted this pathway to accomplish their tasks with deadlines and with a tremendous amount of pressure.
But, this is not the right approach. For that purpose, you should split your task into mini-tasks that easily digestible as our teeth do for an easier process of digestion.
The true work of art is but a shadow of the divine perfection. - Michelangelo
Splitting a single task within four or multiple steps will help you to proceed with the task before the deadline.
You should also split your goals into small goals so you can easily approach all steps without exhausting the initial process.
3.Ask for help when needed
People with a perfectionistic mindset usually believe that they are perfect enough to deal with every problem.
But, sometimes you need help regarding your tasks, and asking for help from others will not lower your confidence. In fact, you should surround yourself with all positive people.
Positive people will offer valuable remarks to your opinions and ideas while negative people will always belittle you. Searching for a mentor in your relevant field will ease every process for you.
Keep aside your ego and ask people for help rather than wasting time on a single task.
4.Analyze yourself
Perfectionism is a positive trait and enables individuals to achieve their goals.
Sometimes procrastination dominates over perfectionism and both seem similar in functionality.
Therefore, it is important to distinguish procrastination and perfectionism.
These states will stomp your productivity and will leave you in a state of depression and anxiety. Therefore, whenever you’re going to accomplish any task in life, then put your all efforts and become fearless of results.
Becoming fearless to results will boost your confidence and you can concentrate on the process regardless of results.
If you’re willing to achieve higher goals in life, then put forward all efforts and wait for results with the patience of a saint. This step will help, you to devote your all energy to the task.
5.Set a specific time limit for every task
If you’re dealing with a school task, official task, domestic task, or any other task in life, then you should jot down your task on paper.
This step will take only five minutes, but it will assist you in the right direction.
By writing down your specific goal or task, split it into multiple steps and set a time limit for every step. You have to strictly follow the time limit to check your productivity level.
After completing one step, you can successfully jump to the next one.
6.Celebrate your small achievements
Adopt the habit to celebrate your small achievements.
This act will help you to awake the feeling of doing more in life for your goals.
Celebrate every little achievement that could bring you closer to your goal and could boost your self-confidence.
In this way, you can dedicate a few valuable moments to yourself.
A pat on your back or watching your favorite show or offering a favorite food to yourself will catalyze your performance.
I have adopted this tip for years and it does wonders.
7.It’s okay to take breaks
Life is a self-doing project that entirely depends on you.
You can choose the life of winners after going through a struggling phase, or you can choose your comfort zone to live like a mediocre.
But, it’s really important to take breaks during work to refresh your soul. In fact, this step could help you to introduce new strategies for achieving a specific goal.
In that regard, I am willing to share a useful tip that will provide assistance in accomplishing your goals.
The Pomodoro technique is to break the task into simpler steps and give 25 minutes to each task.
Devoting 25 minutes to each task and taking a break of 5 minutes will ensure completion of your task within a limited time period.
8.Prioritize your mental and physical health
Each of us is striving to reach our destinations and working hard to fulfill our dreams.
However, do not overburden your soul with tons of tasks.
Take some moments for yourself and prioritize your mental and physical health.
You can do exercise for a few minutes, or you could meditate for 30 minutes to relax your mind from toxicity and inhaling fresh air.
Moreover, eat healthy for your body and seek healthy and positive thoughts for your mind.
This step will also boost your energy level and immune system.
Final Words
Perfectionism and procrastination become an impediment to your path of success. However, these similar words could reduce your chances of success or will slow down the achievement process.
Perfectionism can lead to self-satisfaction and this gesture will prevail over the rational decision-maker.
On the other hand, procrastination will take the overall control of the rational decision-maker and will distract you from the main goal.
But, you can overcome the bad impacts of these powerful forces by adopting multiple consistent strategies which are provided in this article.
No doubt that soon enough you will master your expectations and time management.
After this acquired skill, nobody will stop you from achieving your success.