Perfectionism in the Workplace

Throughout our lives, there are age milestones that set a standard of what you should and should not being doing, whether it be physical, mental or emotional. For example, when babies are born there is a developmental milestone chart from ages 2 months to 5 years old that helps parents monitor how their child is learning and adopting to their environments. According to Medlineplus.gov, a child’s development and growth can be broken down into four stages which are infancy, preschool years, middle childhood years and adolescence. The adolescence years are from ages 12-18. During this time boys and girls begin to contemplate future goals and how they will achieve them.

Furthermore, some boys and girls know from adolescence what career path they will take. Their educational journey is centered around that path so they can become masters in their fields and have successful careers. However, some become obsessed with being perfectionist in their life and career. According to Very Well Mind, the characteristics of a perfectionist are fear of failure, procrastination, focused on results, highly critical, low self-esteem, defensiveness, and unrealistic standards. Being a perfectionist is an attitude that our society perpetuates. We are taught or shown from a young age that we need to have the perfect house, the perfect car, the perfect husband/wife, the perfect kids, the perfect hair, the perfect body and the perfect career. In the Merriam-Webster dictionary, perfect can be used as an adjective, verb or noun. It is defined as flawless, without fault or defect, to improve or refine and the perfect tense of languages. In the bible Matthew 5:48 Yahshua Hamashiach says Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.

Continuing, the word perfect has been in motion since the bible was written. After reading Matthew 5:48, one would assume that Yahshua Hamashiach is asking you to be perfect. However, I believe this is not the case. Romans 3:23 says for we all have sinned and fall short of the glory. Romans 3:24 goes on to say being justified freely by His grace through the redemption this is in Yahshua Hamashiach. When you accept Yahshua as your savior you are acknowledging that you’re are a sinner and need guidance in living a more righteous life. You are reborn and being perfected by Yahushua’s grace. Man has continuously taken biblical scripture and used it for wickedness rather than salvation. I wonder if our society used biblical scripture to come up with the concept of being perfect.

With the condition of the current workforce, I don’t understand why workers would be stressing to be perfect at their job or career. According to some psychologist, perfectionism is a mental health disorder that could lead to other disorders. It is important to identify if you are a perfectionist because you could have a mental health disorder. Covid has exposed numerous discrepancies within our workforce and might have wiped out the need to be perfect and some perfectionist might be content with being good enough. Being good enough does not mean you don’t have adequate goals but rather you have healthy goals and are working diligently to achieve them.

In the long run, people should spend some time reflecting on themselves to determine if they are a perfectionist. There are several websites that have quizzes to help determine if you’re a perfectionist. Once the results are in maybe reach out to a therapist or psychologist to help treat your perfectionism. There is too much going on in our world to be striving to be perfect and we must keep our minds healthy. If those worldly resources don’t work, you could always reach out to Yahshua Hamashiach. He can help you overcome anything in this world as He did a long time ago. 1 Timothy 1:7 For Yah has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love and of a sound mind.

Some websites offer Perfection quizzes;

Resources for opinion.

https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/002456.htm

https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/002003.htm https://www.verywellmind.com/signs-you-may-be-a-perfectionist-3145233

https://www.verywellmind.com/signs-you-may-be-a-perfectionist-3145233

https://www.grammarly.com/blog/is-perfectionist-good/