Is the Era of Perfectionists Over?

The cornerstone of every computer, tab, smart device is binary language, essentially 0 or 1. As our lives maneuver towards virtual smartness, we spend significant proportion of our day with machines that have no shades of grey, it is either true or false. Admittedly, these machines are not making us any smarter or binary’ier in any way, if not more. Perfectionism was once touted as a quality humans would boast of; they were the pioneers of quality and raising the bar. It was these perfectionists that inspired parents to raise their children, students to strive harder, actors to give that one more shot, writers to review the draft yet again, leaders to walk that extra mile, and mankind to push the envelope further. They were always a minority, with a mind of their own, refusing to succumb to mediocrity. Due to their tail end location on the bell curve the noise of imperfection is fast drowning the culture of perfectionism across nations. I would blame it on Grey, the damned color that relentlessly ousts black o’ white (MJ we miss you!).

Perfectionists created machines that ensured books were symmetrical, rings perfectly round, cones tapered to accuracy and yes, your laptops typed in straight line. Imagine having titled tables, asymmetrical doors or slanting car roof. If you cringed at the very thought of these imperfections, I see no reason why we shouldn’t be irked by our own imperfections. Human community moved from quality to quantity with increasing consumerism and diminishing barriers to consumption. As consumption became uniform across social groups, quality began to be graded and degraded too. Obviously, quantity was at the bottom of the pyramid while quality was for few. It all boiled down to the famous Cost Benefit Analysis. History tells us that, Jules Dupuit, the famous French economist propounded the theory in relation with benefits to the community from public enterprises. As smart humans would have it, we extended it to private enterprises, nation building, cross border relationships, and now fed it to our protoplasm.

Perfectionism when confused with idealism, meets its current fate. A fool proof idea to rob a bank isn’t an ideal act. A perfect plan increase access to drug peddlers isn’t an ideal scenario. They are two entirely different organisms, with no common parentage.

Perfectionism does not strive for idealism. It struggles with identifying imperfections and eliminating them till it can identify no more. Some minds are born with it, some acquire it and some shun it, each for their own reasons. A progressive community always looks for room for improvement. If we begin to take pride in our imperfections, we are soon going to have algae plague our lives. In fact, it is much easier to work on the imperfection than identify it. Imagine a young boy aspiring to be a cricketer being told, it is okay to play without perfect techniques. You may have a better opponent, but clearly not imperfect strokes.

We are sinking in the couch of comfort, not willing to open our eyes to ourselves. What we ignore is that when our eyes are closed, all we see is darkness, very binary indeed. Employees complain about managers driven by perfectionism; only if you saw some glaring mistakes. Perfectionism is just improvisation, till you see no room for it. Yes, you will eventually hit the wall.

Time, effort, and opportunity are the three costs perfectionism incurs, clearly very expensive in the fast paced, digitally controlled multi-tasking age. No revolution would have seen the light of day, if we were a bunch of comfortable people roaming in animal skin eating roots and fruits, or their peers had stoned them virtually for making perfect machines.

It bothers me, that while perfect objects are matter of fact, the very idea of striving to go that extra mile disturbs our hormonal balance.

Any specific reasons why perfectionism as a trait is expected only from machines created by mankind; when humans have begun to resist the very idea of it. It is comprehensible that there are certain humans who do not wish to strive for; it is deplorable that we have begun to tell young minds, you weren’t born to be perfect! Mediocrity has hijacked us from all corners limiting us to color, religion, ideology etc. The fag ends of the normal curve are leaner with every decade and mankind obese with being steroids of false sense of gratification. If you thought, perfectionists are unhappy, ask them how well they sleep after they sign off.

We are stronger than we see, better than we think, capable than we show, and ignorant than we know.