Many of the projects that we take on, both work and personal ones, never reach their conclusion. All too often, we begin the first phase with energy and focus, then our enthusiasm diminishes and we find ourselves abandoning our resolutions. For most people the first phase of any project, where they set their final goal, decide on a method, the timings and all the other details, is the easiest. After the initial phase comes the inevitable stage of stalling, which in most cases, leads to completely abandoning the project.
But why does this happen? Very often it comes from us, and it is all to do with our perfectionism.
Perfectionism makes us set impossible goals
Being a perfectionist could seem like an efficient trait. After all, who doesn’t want to excel in everything they do? The problem with this mentality is that perfectionism leads to mistakes that very often pave the way to a disastrous end of our project.
First of all, perfection makes us set goals that are far too ambitious. When we are drawing up a project, we get caught up in the enthusiasm of starting a new adventure, and this can mislead our perception of what is really possible.
Furthermore, being a perfectionist means not accepting mistakes and not tolerating imperfection. Yet making mistakes is an important part of any journey, because it helps us to learn and to improve, to redefine our goals in a more realistic way. Not admitting our mistakes can make us give up when we inevitably make one.
Finally, perfectionism means minimizing any achievement that is not absolute perfection, giving ourselves the feeling of failure even when we have made some progress.