Perfectionism is destroying your productivity. 

Update: Martin and I just released a podcast episode that digs into perfectionism even further: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-VJqwDEXf4LY.html --- 🥳 Happy new year, y'all! What's one change you're going to make this year? . 🦙 Start using Notion for free: bit.ly/notionthomas . 🎥 If you enjoyed this video, check out the one I made on deliberate practice: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-FbD8n4J_MuM.html . 🖊 Quote of the week: “Anyone who is not a geek for something is boring, so keep that in mind and find something worth geeking out about.” - Colin Wright

My perfectionism makes me seem 'lazy' and 'slow' when in fact, I was just checking and rechecking way too many times.

This video is literally for me... I don’t start reading because I can’t figure out how to _best_ retain the information. And I don’t start bullet journaling because I can’t figure out _the perfect_ format. Same goes for a lot of things, it’s depressing when perfectionism goes as far as paralysing you.

Read somewhere about a study that had two groups of people taking a pottery class. One group was told they'd be graded solely on the quality of their best pot, the other was told they'd be graded only on quantity so they should make as many pots as possible, no matter how bad they were. By the time the quality group was done finessing and sweating over their One Perfect Pot, and the quantity group was done happily churning out piles and piles of work without worrying about whether it was good... the quantity group was making better pots.

I was about to ask if I’m the only one who is an unproductive perfectionist but then you said failure avoidance perfectionist and now it all makes sense😂😢

Graduated in 21 and now i am 25 years old still didn't have any job. Only because i want to be perfect in my skills meanwhile all of my friends earn a pretty decent salary.

Loved the way the text at 09:16 read as "be imporfect on purpose"

Plot twist: Tom made this video just to reveal the chess scene

I really appreciate the fact that Thomas is not afraid of showing his weakness. He's always realistic. Can't thank him enough for his work.

Exactly explains my dilemma. My perfectionism stresses me out. I need to learn when to stop.

That chess story was inspiring actually

I have social anxiety and I always correlated my high achieving standards to it because I always did above and beyond as to not embarrass myself. I kind of fit into the failure avoiding category. I spend unnecessary amounts of time over thinking, deleting, retyping, redoing EVERYTHING. I don’t have any hobbies because one small setback blocks any further progress. I will literally spiral into negativity. You would literally find it impossible to find anything from my adolescences because I’ve thrown everything as a “I can’t let people know I’m bad at this” this includes writings, drawings, any hint that I tried something and failed. I also don’t think this way about anyone else, only about myself. I always believe I am the weakest link. Yes I have been suggested therapy lmao it’s just the social aspect of talking to someone that terrifies me. I am my own worst enemy.

9:18 anyone noticed "BE IMPORFOCT ON PURPOSE"? You truly meant it!

Perfectionism can also show a level of greater issues other than just the need to be perfect. In my case, due to the rampant abuse in my family, the need to be perfect was a lifesaver in most cases. If you exposed one part of yourself to the family, they would pounce on it like jackals and rend it until you were brought down to their level. Sometimes being a perfectionist can work in that environment but cannot translate over to a world that is normal. Perfectionism is a root, it is a reflection.

I’m a junior in high school and I’d like to consider myself an extreme perfectionist. My excessive perfectionism has gotten in my way a plethora of times. I’d frequently find myself taking longer than other students in completing the same tasks, and I would almost always receive the same grade. Sometimes, I may even get a lower grade than- let’s say- someone who had finished their paper early and had put in less work. This translates over to tackling homework. A homework assignment that should take 30min takes me 1-2 hours, if not more. Ironically enough, I have also found myself going back and revising this very comment. I’m also very socially anxious, as are all perfectionists I’d like to believe. I believe this to be true as the only other individuals I have seen with “perfectionist syndrome” have social anxiety issues. I just want to finish my work faster and not deal with the aching pain of sitting down all day for an assignment that should’ve taken me at most 30 min 😞. I’m tired of overworking myself. I’m absolutely exhausted.

LEMME TELL YOU HOW MANY TIMES I RIPPED PAPER FROM MY NOTEBOOK BECAUSE I WROTE A WORD THAT DID NOT LOOK PRETTY.

This video's topic spoke to me spiritually I carry so much anxiety with me panic attacks must be my middle name

Every single scene that looks “imperfect” sends my anxiety level so high....

“Do not speak bad of yourself. For the warrior within hears your words and is lessened by them.” ✨

This video pops up on my feed while I am trying to perfect my graduate school essay 😂 I’m totally a perfectionist. I believe this was God’s way of telling me to calm the hell down 😃 thanks 👍

I feel like delaying things or completely avoiding it... Just to make sure that when i really start to do that stuff, i could start and finish that work with perfection.. But yeah sadly... I just procrastinate...lol

As a perfectionist one thing I have really struggled with for the longest time is making a decision that will involve a big change in my life or finances. Often I will be paralysed with fear of making a mistake or failing that in the end I bail out and don’t go ahead with making the change. Another thing I struggle with is dealing with imperfections in things I own or stuff around the house or car. I hate scratches, chips and damaged belongings mainly because it annoys the heck out of me and also we can’t afford to buy new items if they are broken 😞. So I attempt to avoid these things getting ruined and repeatedly ask people to be careful. I have improved in being mindful of other’s feelings but internally I still get upset and frustrated. Also I get the feeling that my family still can’t understand why I get the way I do and care so much about imperfections unlike they do. University was also hard for me as I wanted to get every little detail right in my papers I wrote. I struggled with brevity because I thought more was better even to my own detriment when over word count costing me in marks. It wasn’t until I met an important lecturer in my life who wrote one key word on a paper that I had written. The word was written in big bold blue ink BREVITY! It was at that point I realised less could net a better result because of quality over quantity. There it was again my indecisiveness to make a decision to choose the best bits holding me back once again, because I thought what I had written was perfect the lecturer gave me an high distinction because he agreed it was a fantastic paper but he later told me you didn’t have to work so hard on that one and he was right because it meant another units paper suffered before I put too much effort and time into my favourite units paper. I still probably would have gotten the same mark but with less effort required. The extra time saved could have gone to the other paper :( That lecturer taught me the most important thing I needed to work on and it was time management and better decision making not just on that paper but in exams and life in general. Prioritising what important or worth the best mark or result in life. I am eternally grateful and will never forget him even though he has now passed away sadly. He made an impact on my life, because he did things different in life and wasn’t perfect nor was he always right but he showed great heart, empathy and compassion. I think he understood what it was like to be crippled by perfectionism and the fear of failure, because he had faced the same struggles in life. Even to this day my perfectionist tendencies get in the way often but I am learning how to deal with the cards I have been dealt. I want to become a writer but can’t even decide on a laptop to help me get started :( decisions and change are always in the way. Then my fear of the laptop getting damaged or malfunctioning is a worry for me. I sought psychologist help and had mindfulness and cognitive behavioural therapy which was a great help but not a cure. I just try and take life one step at a time and hope not to tread on others toes while I deal with my mental health flaws without getting too stressed, anxious or having another panic attack. Napoleon Hill said something along these lines great leaders get to where they have because of their ability to make quick decisions and to be firm about what they want and can do fast. It about having a can do attitude and then making it actually happen in reality. I just wish some day I can have an attitude like that and be able to do the thing I want to in life before my time runs out. I know I shared a lot but I hope what I wrote can help others like me to know that they are not alone in this big old world 🌎.

“Be Imporfect On Purpose.” Ahh, I see what you did there.

*As a Harvard Neuroscientist, I’ve strongly experienced the bidirectional valences of perfectionism akin to what Tom has earnestly shared here, including the dark side that has delayed me launching my first RU-vid video despite already garnering 11,000+ subscribers via comments such as this one over the last few months.* At times, this impetus for excellence has yielded fruitful results, such as the crux of my doctoral thesis making the front cover of one of the top journals in my field or my writing of grant proposals that have helped realize $1,500,000+ in new funding for novel research programs across several labs. However, the dark side of perfectionism has also induced severe delays in my completion of other studies and manuscripts, some of which may never be disseminated since I now act as a scientific editor/consultant for multiple companies around the world. Hence, for me, perfectionism has been a formidable double-edged sword to the point that the destructive side of the blade has sometimes undermined my efforts and nearly prevented me from continuing with my higher-vision goal-directed pursuits. Fortunately, I’ve since balanced this perfectionistic tendency by learning to live the dualism of extropianistic and nihilistic agnosticism. That is, be the most engaged, but least attached. This allows one to focus on the process rather than the product. Beyond that, all of Tom’s advice here to ameliorate perfectionism is excellent, as follows: (1) lower unrealistic expectations/standards; (2) proactively zoom out to view your entire goal space and prioritize/limit perfectionism to only focus on what is most important; (3) practice exposure therapy by allowing yourself to do a “bad” job on something and still share it with the world even though it’s far from perfect; and (4) engage in quantity challenges of completing and/or sharing something small each day. I’ve been embracing all of the above for quite some time now, which has provided both solace and an improved ability to complete projects. On that note, I plan to release my first video by the end of January, even if all I have completed is something that I still scrutinize as a lower standard that my perfectionistic side would usually not accept. So sub in the interim if interested. Together, we’ll take a cerebral journey together to leverage our brains to improve our lives. Cheers. 🧠⚡

Perfectionism prevents us from living a happy and satisfying life and most importantly robs us of inner joy and real happiness 💔💔💔

im a perfectionist especially to myself, & it's hard for me to accept i can't be the best in something i'm passionate about. i have high standards in everything i do and easily get upset when i didn't meet those expectations. i know it's so so toxic.

It's extra hard when you are perfectionist and lazy at the same time...

Thank you for this helpful video. Perfectionism for me is all about anxiety - my university studies are suffering terribly because of it- the paralysing fear and procrastination is gradually taking over my life. I don’t do much of anything anymore and I need to break this awful cycle somehow

I just destroyed my academic year due to my failure avoiding perfectionism. I wasted so much of my time on making perfect notes and reading them again and again. And couldn't practise questions. Now I am depressed as my whole year is wasted .

Thank you Thomas, I’ve learned so much from this video. I will apply the tips you taught to succeed in my upcoming second semester. My first semester was ruined by my perfectionism, but I still have 7 semesters left to increase my GPA!

I am so so so glad you shared that tid bit regarding the chess shot. I can 100% relate to that feeling of getting caught up in the details and letting something so insignificant feel way too overly important in my mind. I have been struggling with some crippling perfectionism and I have found so much VALUABLE information from your page, I seriously can’t say thank you enough!!! Not only is your content relatable, but your examples and metaphors/analogies and extremely well thought out and easy to understand. Thanks for putting in so much work and effort into these videos!! they are truly so life changing and informative and easy to apply

Thank you so much for this video! I've been struggling with anxiety for a long time now, often striving to have the "perfect" notes, the "perfect" flashcards, or the "perfect" projects and then beating myself up for not getting the results I expected. Now, I get it. I'm not lazy, I'm a perfectionist and that's something I can work on

I'm an artist and music producer and this is holding me back way too much, small details that I get stuck on that I just can't let go, I'm very grateful you brought it up. This is key!!!

I feel both understood and attacked by this relatable content 😅

It hits real hard. Preventing my perfectionist self from taking over is the most important challenge right now. Let's hope I do get over it someday.

That "imperfect" shot from behind the microphone is amazing 🙏

Ohh my god! I can't explain how much I related to the video and a bit from each type of perfectionism, and you won't believe but I was trying to figure it out why is my work slower than my peers and now I know it, Thanku so much, and also your content is amazing ❤️

Feeling this SO MUCH. I'm stuck on my dissertation because I never believe anything I do is good enough. I'm paralysed by the fear of failure.

I love your introspection. Your ability to critique yourself and on a public forum is fantastic. Go you :)

I've been worrying about my university exam coming up and this video on Perfectionism has been very helpful. Thank you!

The ways to overcome perfectionism: 1. Set realistic expectations. 2. Perfect how you allocate your efforts. (80/20 rule) 3. Be imperfect on purpose. (Example: Do 4 takes and pick the best one.)

Did you purposely throw imperfect touches here and there to make this video perfect? What a great content! Thank you

This video completely solved the problem I faced recently as a content creator. Jus big thank you for the all explaining, research and effort. It is worth. As Robert Greene said, rationalization comes from the adapting ourself to feedback we take from audiences. Done is better than perfect.

I resonate with this a lot. I struggle with it professionally as well as in day today tasks where i need to perform the tasks as well as i can, irrespective of the time and effort required to complete it, even if it is completely trivial. This leads to a complete burnout, exhaustion or imbalanced allocation of effort towards less important steps of a task and either complete the remaining job shoddily or let it remain incomplete altogether. Your video helps me to start letting go of things.. Thanks!

I need this this year...much love and thanks💜

Thanks a lot man, I am still learning about my self and this really helped me.

Dang you got 2 mill subscribers now????!!! Glad to see you're still around doing great things. You got me through my Statistical Methods course 7 years ago.

I loved seeing how you made this video. I'm a new content creator, and making quality videos do take a lot more work than just turning on your phone camera and recording. Thank you!

I've always struggled with Perfectionism and it hurts. This is one of my BIGGEST CURSES as a creative person, worrying if my work is gonna suck to other people instead of just enjoying the process and having fun. It's why I started painting and sculpting in clay non digitally, because any mistakes I make, I live with it and MOVE ON to the next piece. And learn... I will shake this. Btw, I'm a 3D artist

This is actually one of the most useful videos on perfectionism I have seen. People tend to talk about it only from one aspect.

so I saw this last week and have been 'practicing imperfection' since then - already has made positive shift in my productivity and mental health. Merci boucoup!

I like to think most people live by the 80/20 rule (Pareto Principle). I know I do. Which is 80% of your results come from 20% of your activities. Perfectionism can also be called procrastination :)

Done is better than perfect. That's why I just focus on inputs I can control, like releasing two videos a week and gradually improving 1% at a time.

this video is nice and more helpful. the idea of "be imperfect on purpose" is really the best.

Starting with your content here and podcast....is already amazing, please keep up...never give u, thanks for always sharing such a piece of good information, this video is amazing!

Ugh, thank you! I've really struggled with perfectionism and anxiety. What's been helping me is to tell myself, "Just do it badly," and then I imagine ok what's the worst way I could possible do this task. That just tricks my brain into getting started and more often than not it turns out a lot better than I had planned. This was really validating and helpful to watch so again, thank you!

Hey loved this video I related to it more than I realized. Never knew this was a problem until you said it in the video. So, thanks. Also, could you make a video about gamification? It is really interesting!

Thank you, thank you, Tom! Failure avoidance. It all makes sense now.

Your videos are always just what I need to hear.

Where all my failure avoiding perfectionists at?

Done is better than perfect!

the way you use notion is out of my world. perhaps if i have more chances on projects and more workloads ill keep your template in mind. thanks for the reality slap content :)

appreciate your candor Thomas! Your vids have made a big impact on me :)

This was everything I needed to hear at the beginning of the year. Thanks for the kick up the arse to put it out there!

"Be imporfect on purpose" - can't help yourself, can you Frank? xd It was a really nice touch though

This video was very insightful, thank you so much for always helping us out !

Genuinely though I feel 100% called out by this video and it gives genuinely awesome advice so thank you so much

I really needed to hear this! I feel like i’ve held myself back from doing things for my business or my channel because i’ve tried to focus too hard on a minute detail and drowned out the bigger picture. Thank you!

“Imperfect chair turn.” 🤣

I have been a recovering perfectionist for decades. Kinda like being a recovering alcoholic. It takes a lot of work to defeat the addiction. Thanks Thomas.

Thank You Thomas, This will surely help bring back balance in my life...

I don't have high expectations for your vids, chill bro

needed a vid like this rn

Props for you for admitting this out loud to millions of people. This will help a lot of people, including myself 👍

One of the best videos you have done in a long time

Be Imporfect on Purpose I can see you perfectly spell the word "imperfect" wrongly to communicate the message to be imperfect on purpose! That's perfection but in a good way :)

Honestly, since I've started studying physics at university I realized that perfection creates more problems that it solves. Doing one asignment perfectly and neglect everything else (I mean like asignments, health, sleep, hobbies, ...) or doing many fairly and be more happy while studying knowing that I am an imperfect human being.

That was exactly what I needed. Thank you!

Fantastic video! I really resonated with it. Great practical suggestions to be imperfect on purpose and to do quantity challenges. Also, the part where you talked about motion at the end and your entire production process kinda blew my mind.

These words almost solved most of my problems in life!! Actually, I have never known that the term "Perfectionism" is a real thing, but if I had heard about it, I would have thought that it was actually a good thing!! I have always been a perfectionist and I've always wondered why I never have time to finish my endless studying while others seem to be SO MUCH more productive than I am. I thought that when I actually put more effort in a single topic (that is usually not that important), that actually will help me to memorize it better and never forget it. That used to make me really really sad when I found out that I forgot a lot of the information I've studied. And instead of me realizing that my concept was wrong, I though I just need to speed more time studying. I thought that in order to get high grades I have to study for 14 hours EVERY SINGLE DAY!!! And to me, doing that was kind of impossible, so that made procrastinate even more and think that I'll never be an A-grade student because I'll never be able to study as much or as "Perfect" as the A-grade students do. I've wasted 12 years of my life thinking that way and getting depressed during every exam season and feeling really really bad when my grades were not good enough because as you said "I used to measure my own worth entirely in terms of productivity and accomplishment" and I've always thought that my self worth comes from the grades I get or the degree I have. Another example is that I read a few books although I love reading, but me thinking that I have to read a book in "Perfect" circumstances in order for my mind to benefit from the information I'm reading, was always dragging me down. I really can't thank you enough!!! Your words have changed A LOT of things and they have also opened my eyes to how I could find solutions to the problems I have in general.

I'm going to try and be more intentional about what I consume this year so I'm not subscribed to a whole bunch of channels and services for no reason. My Watch Later Playlist will probably thank me! Also going to try and implement this advice and pump out content, my biggest regret is delaying creating my creative productivity channel because I want to be perfect and only show a flawless version of myself, that has not got me anywhere. Keep up the good work Tom, you've inspired me to create more and step into the deep end. I hope all who are reading this also don't fall into the perfectionism trap and you all have a good year!

I feel like this is what was keeping me from doing anything on writing I was wanting to do, I wanted it to be my magnum opus but I'm recently realizing that I'm only damping my creativity with unrealistic expectations instead of letting it flow naturally

Thank you so much for sharing this video!! This video’s really helpful and articulate!! ❤️😍

I am a perfectionist and I have severe OCD that has been the struggle of my life for the past couple of years, so this video really is the story of my life.

Hey, we do not expect you to always put out super high quality videos. We're here for the content. Keep with your research and your audience will stay with you.

That’s my first video i see for you and it's amazing!! Really helpful

hey Thomas we like your short videos! keep them up

I feel like I've seen this before from another creator. Interesting.

Ironically, the NeXT cube wasn't a perfect cube, but it looks like a perfect cube because of an optical illusion. Perfection truly lies in Imperfection!

I appreciate your perfectionism and the app that you shared for Notes.

oh jeez, i have all the symptoms of perfectionism and more.. a genuine thanks to you for these tips!:)

1:29 i'm inevitable fits too 😂

oh do you mean that being an artist and having the ability to undo my mistakes is actually harming my improvement! yes....thanke you for calling me out,nah seriously this was a good video for people like me how want everything and anything to be perfect,happy new year thomas🌟

This is very beneficial,,,,perfectionism makes me feel bad and even stressfull because some things may probably not run according to the plan

Hey Thomas, thanks so much for this video, lots of good info I can provide my students with (we're doing workshop for first-year university students) Lots of them are dealing with pressure from parents with high expectations or they themselves feel like they need to get the same high grades as they got in highschool (which is generally not possible). This topic is a bit tangent to that but still very useful I think. So thanks a lot!

I've always struggled with balancing perfectionism and productivity. The desire to create high quality work can sometimes work against you, or even worse, prevent you from finishing your work at all. I constantly remind myself that done is always better than something that is perfectly unfinished.

This was so true for me. I keep underperforming because of my fear of failure but I hesitated to call it perfectionism too because I wasn't actually getting anything done. This video has been helpful to me and hopefully I'll be able to make a change.

Very helpful Thomas! The perfect time for me to be imperfect by your perfect video! Thank you 😊

Thank you SO much for this video. It´s exactly what I needed.

I feel this. Lets change that in 2021 and beyond.