PERFECTIONISM
Mr. Nelson, my 5th grade teacher at Mt. Eccles Elementary School in Cordova, Alaska, was the first person to tell me that I was a perfectionist. He advised me that while it’s certainly an admirable trait, it could hamper me if taken too far. I’ve never forgotten that, and I remind myself to keep it fun every day.
Miles Davis said, “There are no mistakes.” I’ve found he was right.
“Perfectionism, after all, is an ultimately self-defeating way to move through the world. It is built on an excruciating irony: making, and admitting, mistakes is a necessary part of growing and learning and being human. It also makes you better at your career and relationships and life in general. By avoiding mistakes at any cost, a perfectionist can make it harder to reach their own lofty goals,” Amanda Ruggeri states in this article: