In an increasingly competitive and fast-paced world, everyone wants to be the best. We are all striving for something, whether that be passing an AP exam or getting the next promotion. The perfectionistic habits expressed by many in pursuit of these lofty goals can be overwhelming for the person and eventually lead to their downfall. We all want to be successful, but it is important to have a realistic idea of success. In order to maintain a personally healthy work-life balance and avoid inflicting stress upon others, people should aim for greatness but not perfection. 

Perfectionism can become an unhealthy obsession, taking time away from things the person enjoys and eventually leading to burnout. This can be seen in many American high schools, which value perfection of many tasks through their use of ranking systems and other ways of classifying how ‘good’ a person is. Frankly, it’s exhausting to frantically scour over each assignment, searching for any possible defects. Many of my friends struggle to finish even one task, even one paragraph of an essay. It takes them weeks upon weeks to even begin writing because they are afraid that their finished product won’t receive an optimal score. Seeing the zeros slide into the gradebook because they couldn’t stand to turn in any of the three essay versions they wrote puts them into a state of distress. Their grades and GPA begin to drop, lowering their class rank and their ideas of self-worth. Students skip activities they enjoy to stare blankly into the computer screen. For many of my friends, this has caused adverse mental health effects. Chasing the dragon of perfection is not good for a person, and it leads to them eventually feeling like a failure. A person will never become perfect- it simply isn’t possible. One who attempts this will always fail. People become obsessed with perfection and how they can achieve that state. They get burnt out from spending countless nights awake, stressing about how they will be able to achieve the next greatest thing. It’s just not worth it. It is more valuable to enjoy a life of perfect happiness rather than one of a perfect school or work life. Perfection is detrimental for a person, and it commonly causes a restricted quality of life as a person spends all of their time trying to become more perfect. 

Additionally, perfectionistic people put pressure on those around them and make others feel like they, too, are vastly imperfect. Those who work in a group setting with a perfectionist well know their tendencies. Moving each text box within a slide, spending fifteen minutes scouring over possible synonyms the group members don’t even understand, or even just refusing to turn in or even let others see their ‘imperfect’ part of the group project. It gets to be too much. This behavior rubs off on others, as they feel the perfectionist will be disappointed in them if they aren’t able to help them achieve perfection. These people who don’t typically consider their faults to be overly large are now realizing the many ways they fall short. As the typical perfectionist inevitably reveals all of the changes that need to be made to their work, the common person feels like nothing they do will be good enough for them. This causes them to work even harder to uphold the person’s standards. It is unfair for these people to put such feelings on other people. Those who strive for perfection can cause poor effects on not only themselves, but those around them. They shouldn’t let these behaviors affect others in the way they most certainly do. A person who doesn’t uplift others or make them feel good about themselves isn’t valuable in a team or group setting. No one wants the person who drags everyone down by pointing out all of their imperfections. Perfectionists often do this out of their own insecurities, as examining the seemingly larger or more prominent faults of others makes them feel more perfect, boosting the perfectionist’s self-esteem. But nonetheless, an unrealizing non perfectionist will still internalize these messages. Perfectionists are invaluable because they have detrimental effects on those they interact with. 

Everyone wants to do a good job on assignments and projects. We all want to become educated and make money to feed ourselves and our families. While perfectionism does have some benefits such as high quality work, the negative effects of this mindset on someone who thinks this way vastly outweigh the positives. The actions of a perfectionist are often unnecessary. It doesn’t really matter in the long term. Perfect ideas and actions can be useful, but when coupled with the negative effects of a perfectionist mindset, they are often clouded. In order to let the true value of a person’s qualities shine through, they must be able to lose perfection and accept the little failures that make up life. 

In order to achieve personal peace and maintain a position as a valuable and respected group member, one shouldn’t chase perfection. Striving for perfection has poor effects on a person, and these outcomes make perfectionism invaluable for both an individual person and society as a whole.