Perfectionism is a poor master but a good slave. It has downsides if you let it take over: you waste time on relatively unimportant decisions, you get excessively annoyed with yourself over small mistakes, which drains you, and, because you expect others to conform to your standards, you sometimes make collaboration more difficult.
The Upside of Perfectionism? Creativity.
Sometimes a bit of stubbornness can help you think outside the box.
May 05, 2020
Summary.
There are downsides to perfectionism, but also benefits. One largely unrecognized upside is how it boosts creativity. This happens in four ways: when perfectionists are bothered by evidence that runs contrary to their own or consensus opinion, so explore it; when their desire to understand everything pushes them to seek out new information; when their stubbornness leads to an innovative solution; when your competitiveness makes you hustle to keep up with others.