Perfectionism vs speed

I was not a perfectionist.

In fact, I was the total opposite, which is equally bad, although at that time I used to judge perfectionists for wasting time and focusing on the wrong things.

I would just get things done as quickly as possible while trying to maintain a baseline of quality.

But being in a PR agency, an industry where professionalism is extremely important, it wasn’t good enough.

Luckily for me, my boss recognised my strengths (thinking of fresh ideas quickly) and weaknesses (just get it done attitude) and fixed it quickly.

His was of fixing it was to give me a lot of client reporting work, from compiling any news stories about them each morning to analysing sentiment of the stories and reporting performance across the region.

I hated it at first because I was quick to fill out the information but made mistakes or had things that were out of format.

He wanted the report to be perfect.

But, very soon, I got good at not making mistakes and ensuring the reports were presentable, although it was at the expense of speed.

In fact, I went beyond and redesigned some of the reports so that the report is easier to follow and key information or highlights are upfront.

My clients loved the changes.

It helped me see the value of perfectionism and gave me a healthy respect for those wanting to always put their best work out there.

It’s a conflict I’m always conscious of. My instinct is to always break things quickly, so I have to slow myself down and ensure high quality of work as well.

Today’s Prompt

Reflect on a recent situation where the desire for perfection held you back. What did you lose by perfecting your task and how could embracing progress—even if imperfect—lead to better outcomes?

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