Not everything needs to be 100% perfect

Perfectionism - it can be a blessing and a curse.

Working in the software industry for over 25 years now, my perfectionism traits have both helped and obstructed me through the years. Here are some things I have learned:

1. Perfectionism can help with creating high quality products.

   Attention to details during code reviews, drilling down into knowing why something works the way it works to ensure it does the right thing can really help with quality and understanding of a software system.

2. Perfectionism can be very energy draining.

   It turns out I do not have the energy to "turn on" my perfectionism all the time.

   Recognition of being a good reviewer is great, but it can consume a fair amount of time and energy (that you cannot spend on other things).

3. Perfectionism does not need to be "turned on" all the time

   This took me a while to figure out: what is driving my perfectionism and how can I turn it "on/off" when it benefits me the most?

   Example: when building a prototype/proof of concept it helps if you can "let go" of certain perfectionism traits that are not needed during the prototyping.

4. Perfectionism can prevent you from achieving results (both at work or in private life)

   As a spare time musician, my perfectionism "prevented" me from recording music for a long time ("because it needs to be perfect").

   In 2020/2021 I started recording music with my parents in a time-boxed manner: we take a day to record and whatever we have at the end of the day is the song.

   Of course, we practice a bit upfront, in part to figure out the right key and form but the final recording is done in a day (~8 hours).

   Setting a deadline means you need to make choices on what to spend time on (and what not to spend time on) and this helped me a lot!