Here is another valuable Management Tip of the Day from Harvard Business Review. To sign up for a free subscription to any/all HBR newsletters, please click here.
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Being a perfectionist isn’t easy, especially if your desire for everything to be just right causes you to put off decisions, worry over sunk costs, or ruminate over failures and weaknesses. To help yourself ease up, try focusing on and learning from your successes.
o Ask yourself: Have I always done everything flawlessly? (Probably not.) Have I always been certain of success in advance? (Unlikely.)
o Remembering times when you succeeded despite being imperfect will give you the confidence to tweak your processes and decisions based on what has worked in the past. This can be especially useful if you tend to carefully research and plan your approach to work before starting it.
o You can also identify a successful role model who keeps their perfectionism in check. How is that person able to be effective without succumbing to perfectionism? Observe what they do and learn from it.
Adapted from “How Perfectionists Can Get Out of Their Own Way,” by Alice Boyes
Here’s a direct link to dozens of other Management Tips.
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