Five creatives from the Gen.T community share how the chase for perfection can be counterproductive and why it's important to know when to let go
Being a perfectionist is typically seen as a positive and sometimes desirable trait. This is further backed by the fact that about 87 percent of the world’s gifted people are one. From Serena Williams to Steve Jobs, many of the most prominent geniuses and talents we know today have either proclaimed that they are a perfectionist or have been described as one by those around them.
Perfectionism may manifest as a healthy, internal motivation to do better and be more creative, but it also has its downside. Experts say our perfectionistic tendencies reflect the way we think about ourselves, and this can be seen in instances where we define our strengths and self-worth based on our performance.
Signs of unhealthy perfectionism, or what is called maladaptive perfectionism, may include putting ourselves down when something doesn’t go according to plan, worrying what others think or say of you, or relentlessly pursuing an unrealistic standard or goal at the expense of something else such as our health or relationships with others.
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When left unchecked, maladaptive perfectionism can have detrimental effects on our self-esteem and mental health, including causing insomnia, depression and OCD behaviour. There are numerous studies to prove this.
This idea of perfectionism may resonate with creatives, who spend their years pursuing their ideal level of perfection in their craft. Case in point: French impressionist painter Claude Monet, who was known to destroy and burn paintings of his own that he felt weren’t up to standard.
Nearly a century after Monet’s death, reports say we may be developing greater perfectionistic tendencies over time. Here, we speak to four creatives from the Gen.T community about their own perfectionistic ways and how they try to manage them.
Strike A Balance Between Time And Ambition
Like the consumer tech industry, the design industry is fiercely competitive and all about timing. For designers such as Gabriel Tan, who is the creative director of Gabriel Tan Studio, the ability to push out a product before others is key to surviving in a cut-throat sector. At the same time, this sense of urgency has also become a means for him to manage his perfectionistic personality.
“As a creative professional working on products, furniture and spaces, I try to perfect as many details as I can before the end result is put out into the world,” shares the 2019 Gen.T honouree. “But being first to the market is also important when we’re working on new products with clients. There have been occasions when I had to cancel my project because other designers with a similar idea to mine were faster to bring their products to market. We ourselves have done this to others as well.”
He instead tries to strike a balance between spending enough time to “deliver a design that deserves existence” and spending too much time on trying to perfect it.
A believer in the Japanese “kaizen” philosophy of constant and continuous improvement, Tan also doesn’t think the life of a product ends when it’s launched or sold. “I’ve learned over the years that design is a never-ending process,” he says. “What may seem perfect at this moment in time could be bettered in a year or decade later with the emergence of new technology or manufacturing capabilities.” If possible, improvements can be made to his next batch of products, especially if he knows what can be fine-tuned through customer feedback.
He also sees the benefit in not always indulging his idea of perfection, particularly when it will affect his relationship with his partners and stakeholders. “I’ve come to realise that the working relationship with my client, supplier and craftsmen is just as important as the end product itself,” he says. “I’ve learned to be a little more flexible and also to try to put myself in their shoes, as the design and fabrication of a product or space is not a unilateral process, but a collaboration between multiple parties.”
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