Failure & Perfectionism

No one wants to look like a fool (even on April Fool’s Day).  But how do we PERFECTIONISTS reconcile the common business perspective that growth comes from learning from MISTAKES?

How do we perfectionists not crumble from missteps?

I recently heard a bit of history on Albert Einstein that I did not know. (don’t’ judge me)

Before he was recognized for his revolutionary work on the “theory of relativity” he had NUMEROUS papers rejected & was not accepted by many of his peers. 

It is hard to imagine his perseverance & determination to work through what some may have seen as repeated (and public) failures.  

Fast forward to current day business advice that….

to grow you need stretch yourself & be prepared to fail then learn from those failures…NOT be stopped in your tracks by them.

I personally don’t like to fail as I can be a perfectionist.  I have to admit I worked incredibly hard to avoid mistakes, BUT I also ’consciously’ worked hard to keep my perfectionism in check. 

To this day, I am not PERFECT at keeping perfectionism in check --- But I am MUCH better at it now & certainly better for it.

As we all know you can’t avoid failure – and being “perfect” is not a healthy or truly achievable goal.

BUT doing your best & being a thoughtful, critical thinker, while checking in with others when you are not sure on how to progress --- now that is a healthy approach.

Everyone’s career journey is going to have challenges & setbacks.  That is a guarantee!

So in closing, I share Einstein's famous quote:  

"I have tried 99 times and have failed, but on the 100th time came success."

So, to all you perfectionists – be ok with failure – learn & grow from it. 

…….And just because I need to remind myself

…..the theory of relativity is E=MC2  Energy = Mass x the speed of light (C) squared.