Pitfalls in Thinking – Part 9: The Perfection Trap

High benchmarks are good. They spur on and drive employees to peak performance. But goals that are too high often lead to a complete crash. Or at least to frustration and economic failure.

Musk roughly says: "If you don't fail, the goal was set too low." It sounds ambitious, but this quote omits the fact that there must, of course, be a happy ending at some point.

Successfully implementing tasks and finishing them on time is the driver of the economy. And the source of personal happiness. The question is, why do so many find this so difficult?

It's the perfection trap.

The most insidious of all mental traps is the perfection trap. It sits deep in our genes, of course. Because those who couldn't get things done were expelled from the cave and eaten by bears outside. So those who did things well remained. Those who did them best became the cave chief, got the first pick of the roast, and could father more children. We are the descendants of those, and therefore genetically anchored to always strive for a bit of perfection (although today, that is no longer a guarantee for more soup and such).

In times when speed is nearly everything, the value of perfection simultaneously decreases. Amazon proves it: Poor quality won't get you delisted, but late delivery will. Vilfredo Pareto died exactly one hundred years ago – and even back then he noted that 80 percent "good" is often enough.

What does this mean for daily life?

Happiness lies in the completion of tasks, not in perfection. Completing things timely and as well as necessary brings more benefits to you and all of humanity than completing them as well as possible but too late. 80 percent is almost always enough. The only trick is to identify the unimportant 20 percent and leave them out. Those who manage this are perfect, so to speak.