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How Do I Overcome Perfectionism At Work? - 7/18/2008 12:35:16 PM
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sunshinesoprano
Posts: 972
Joined: 4/12/2005
From: Georgia
Status: offline
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Hey, guys.
I'm in a job that I truly love processing FMLA/State Leaves and so forth. Before I started processing in November, I had worked in the FMLA call center for 2 years at the same company. I was a perfectionist in the call center, too, and had acheived senior status by my 1st year.
The processing job is EXTREMELY detailed, lots of processes and MORE gray areas. Much of it is a "Learn as you go" type situation where because there are too many processes to document, you pretty much just have to make an error to learn the correct way.
That's fine, albeit a little frustrating for me. I feel it wrong to audit someone on something they had no way of knowing otherwise.
But I digress...
When I leave work it goes with me and I think about making the errors all the time. My 1st three audits were all 100%, and my last one was a 99.85. I catch my own errors every time, and mostly their just a matter of not knowing the "Best Process," even though what I did wasn't technically wrong since there wasn't really a defined process for it.
How do I get past this? I know I'm not perfect, but my drive to excel, get 100%s, and move up seems to haunt me. I feel like I have to be perfect in order to move up in the organization, though I've preached many times that you learn the most from making mistakes!
I need some suggestions. My stress levels get way too high when I do this.
Thanks!
_____________________________
Pure Heart-Fresh, Progressive Southern Gospel
Sing, laugh, love, PRAISE!
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RE: How Do I Overcome Perfectionism At Work? - 7/20/2008 12:13:07 AM
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creationtalk
Posts: 705
Joined: 6/9/2005
Status: offline
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Well, you could join "Perfectionists Anonymous" with me.
I can relate to what you are saying. I am a perfectionist (partially reformed) also. This has made it very hard for me to let things go--when I was working on my master's thesis, my advisor finally told me I was finished. I had a long list of things I still thought had to be done, but he wouldn't let me do any more. Then the full committee told me I had done too much. I'd still be working on my dissertation research, except the computers I used for the modeling were converted to classified systems--so I had to quit because I could not access them any more. Again I was told I'd done too much. And I always worried that it was not good enough.
Fast forward to now, 9 years later. I'm a single mom, I have 4 horses, homeschool, and have 8 acres in addition to a high stress job with tons of overtime. We have to run models, do analysis, usually with a 24 hour or less turnaround. And if something was wrong and it's caught a week later, it's too late because nothing is the same now and those results don't apply anyway. I don't believe in "good enough," however I have learned that sometimes we have to do the best we can and let it go. I am often asked how I manage to do it all...my answer is I don't. I do what has to be done today...right now. And I cannot worry about the rest.
It's kind of like the advice I gave children when I was coaching...if we lost a game, I'd ask if they'd tried their hardest or done their best. If so, then I told them that the score didn't matter, they still won. And if they didn't try their hardest, then they can remember this next time and try harder then.
As far as worrying about what you did or didn't do, when I was teaching I used to lay awake at night worrying about the students that WOULDN'T come to me for help.
The bottom line is you have to either learn to let things go that are in the past and can't be changed, or change your line of work to something where your perfectionism is not going to harm you.
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RE: How Do I Overcome Perfectionism At Work? - 7/20/2008 12:20:17 AM
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APZR
Posts: 966
Joined: 4/18/2005
From: GA
Status: offline
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Learn by making mistakes!!?? Is there absolutely no training in that gobment office? Sounds to me like you taking things wayyyy to personal. If they toss you into a position with out any training or guidance, then no one should expect any different results. I deal with a lot of government contracts in my business, and the requirements change depending on who you talk to. So what I do is try to get the same person every time... then I know what to expect and know what rules they are playing by. When I get someone different, I call their boss who is usually the one I deal with. All I know to tell you is to try and learn all you can, gain some rank, and then change things when you have the authority to do so.
_____________________________
Ya can't keep trouble from visitin, but you don't have to offer it a chair.
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RE: How Do I Overcome Perfectionism At Work? - 7/21/2008 9:33:22 AM
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redeemedsaint
Posts: 496
Joined: 12/5/2005
Status: offline
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I'm a perfectionist as well. If you make a mistake, learn from it and move forward.
_____________________________
Woody
Get off the track cause the freight train is coming - Coach Bobby Lee Duke from Facing the Giants
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